


could you be my home?

by shantilver



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Humor, Light Angst, M/M, Orphan Keith (Voltron), Texting, klance, shallura - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-09
Updated: 2018-06-09
Packaged: 2019-05-20 00:46:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 39,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14884415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shantilver/pseuds/shantilver
Summary: Keith really just wants to find a way to get through this damn college thing without drawing attention to himself.... something that gets harder when some dumbass spills coffee all over him on the first day of school. But, just when Keith is thinking that if he never sees that loud brat again it'll be too soon, something... unexpected happens. Could it be that there's more to Lance than meets the eye?





	1. Chapter 1

(22:40) Hey gremlin here’s my #

( _22:52) Umm, sorry I think you have a wrong number…._

(22:53) O is this not Pidge

(22:53) R u messing with me bro

_(22:55) I’m not Pidge? Sorry_

(22:56) Noooooo

(22:56) Imma re-type it and see what happens

(22:56) Bye phone man thx

(22:57) _Bye?_

 

Keith woke up to the sound of his alarm blazing. He glanced over at his alarm clock and saw the time (6:45AM) blazing in red numbers. Great— first day of school and he had already slept through his first alarm. He groaned and rolled out of bed. It had been a long night. He’d been staying up a lot recently, which only added to his passionate hatred of mornings. Fourteen years in school and he still had no idea what kind of sadist decided that the best time to get a bunch of teenagers productive was 8:00AM. The guy probably had a really ugly moustache and no kids of his own. Probably because he could never find anyone who was desperate enough to marry him. Still, it was pretty shitty of him to take all of his loneliness and angst and force it on generations of tired students. But then again, it was better than if he had been like a serial killer or something…maybe. Keith mulled over whether killing one person was morally better than forcing thousands to wake up at such an ungodly hour while he brushed his teeth.

He would have signed up for later classes, if he had the choice. But, because of a mix—up in the admissions office, they hadn’t been able to put his registration papers through until after he’d arrived on campus last week (because of course that had happened to him, of all people). By then, pretty much every class had been filled up already, which meant his schedule consisted of pretty much all the classes that no one wanted to take or were required for all student. The only class Keith had gotten to squeeze in that he actually liked was astronomy. That, at least, he had to look forward to. Keith glanced down at his phone and was surprised to see that he had more than a couple missed messages.  

 

(00:12) i found the right # for my friend if u were wondering

(00:12) ur # and theirs are like one # apart its wild

(00:14) just thought id let u know

(01:34) did u know that baby goats r called kids?

(01:35) mother goats are called nannies???

(01:50) o wait i just realized ur not pidge again

(01:51) sry phone man

_(8:12) no worries_

_(8:12) nice fun fact_

 

    Keith sent back the message and gave himself one final look in the mirror after he had finished getting ready, decided he looked ½ like a sleep—deprived zombie, ½ like a living boy, and then decided that was good enough. His phone buzzed again,

 

(08:12) o good i didnt wake u up

(08:12) i was worried ud be mad

(08:12) at me

(08:13) good mroning btw

 _(08:14) umm good morning I guess?_

(08:14) u guess?

(08:14) do u not want me to have a good morning

(08:14) im hurt

_(08:15) no its just_

_(08:15) stranger danger?_

_(08:16) sorry_

 

Keith pressed send again and shoved his phone in his pocket before slipping on his fingerless gloves and heading out to his motorcycle. His motorcycle was one of the only things in his life that Keith was actually proud of. It had taken over a year to build, but was 100% worth it. He hopped on and felt his phone vibrate once again. _What do you want_? Keith thought to himself,

 

(08:18) stranger??

(08:18) omg

(08:18) do u think im like a serial killer or something

(08:18) u should kno that i told my friend and he laughed

(08:18) probably bc im so pure and innocent

_(08:19) did he also happen to tell you to stop harassing me?_

(08:19) ouuuchhhhhh

(08:19) and here i thought our friendship was blooming

_(08:20) do I need to block your number?_

(08:21) only if u wanna block all this high quality entertainment

(08:21) my friend said that wasnt funny

(08:21) he also said that would make him block me???

(08:22) im wounded????

_(08:15) Sorry I have to go…_

(08:15) U WOUND ME PHONE MAN

(08:15) i just texted u to have a good time and im honestly feeling so attacked rn

(08:16) hunk said that one was funny

(08:16) bye phone friend ttyl

_(08:17) not likely…_

    Keith sent turning his phone on airplane mode and starting up his bike.

“Shit,” Keith muttered to himself when he finally reached the school. The campus was apparently huge and he had no idea where he was. He suddenly regretted not going to orientation,

“Hey, stranger”, he heard a voice from the sidewalk call to him.

“Hey, Shiro”, Keith replied relieved to see a familiar face, “you don’t happen to know where parking is, do you?”.

“As a matter of fact, I do”. Shiro said putting a yellow card in Keith’s hand and smiling, “also you’ll need this parking pass. Student parking is at the end of this street and two blocks to the left,”

“Thanks, Shiro, I owe you one.”

“No problem, want me to come with you, just to make sure?”, Shiro said smiling,

“Nah… it’s okay. But I’ll be sure to catch up with you later okay?,

“Okay,” Shiro said with a warm smile, “just be sure to take care of yourself today,” Keith gave a thumbs up and, sensing a lecture coming on, started driving away, when he heard Shiro call out behind him, “Make new friends! See you around! Find me at lunch if you can’t find anyone to sit with”

Keith smiled, shaking his head. He felt a little guilty about ditching Shiro, he was a really good guy, but also a little too protective of Keith. Shiro had been teaching Japanese at U of Altea, for about a year now and was pretty much the same person Keith had met four years ago. Shiro had been Keith’s foster brother for a couple of years before Keith had (finally) aged out of the foster system. Even though Keith initially despised his cheerfulness and good nature, they ended up being pretty close. In fact, Shiro was pretty much the closest thing Keith had to a family.

Shiro had faced more than his fair share of rough times, the worst of them being those years in the military, that left a wide scar on the bride of his nose, cost him his left arm, leaving a prosthetic in its place, and a number of unmentioned, invisible cuts below the surface. After Keith’s parents had died, Shiro had taken Keith under his wing and gone out of his way to protect him and make him feel less alone. When he found out that Keith was thinking about applying to U of Altea, he had helped him with all his essays and even put in a good word with the admissions staff, which Keith though, was probably the only reason that he got in. Keith made a mental note to thank Shiro for everything, when he got a chance.

Eventually, he found his way to the parking (Shiro’s directions were perfect, as always), and headed over to his class. He checked his schedule. His first class was public speaking. Why that had to be a required class, he’d never know. Keith glanced at his watch as he got to class. He had a couple minutes to spare, if he was lucky he’d be able to get to a seat where he’d have as little chance as possible to be called on. It’s not like Keith was awful with crowds. He could talk in front of people just fine if he needed to, it’s just that he preferred to keep to himself. Keith got to class just as the bell sounded and found his way to the second to last empty seat, which happened to be in the very back corner of the room. Keith smiled. Score. As he was setting down his bag, the teacher walked over to close the door and start class when he heard a kid scream, “WAAAAAAAAAIIIT!!!”.

A skinny, tan boy sprinted through the door, nearly knocking the teacher over in the process. “Sorry!” The kid said with a smile, flustered “I made it though didn’t I?” The kid grabbed the hand of the teacher and gave an exaggerated bow, “many thanks for not closing the door on a tired prince”. He said the last part putting his hand, which was holding what looked to be a cup of coffee with an obscene amount of whipped cream, to his forehead in a theatric swoon. Keith groaned internally. Part of the reason Keith preferred keeping to himself is that he couldn’t stand people who got off on hogging everyone’s attention. Whatever ambivalence he had towards the public speaking class disappeared. With this kid in the class, he would be shocked if it was anything less than an absolute nightmare. Lance flounced (yes, flounced, actually) over to the only empty seat in the class, which was, of course, right next to Keith.

“Alright, class, I hope you like where you’re sitting. These will be your seats for the rest of the quarter, or at least until I learn all of your names,” The teacher announced deadpanned. Keith groaned internally again,

“Take out something to take notes with. No computers. No phones. Don’t think I don’t know how you kids are. Today we’re talking about class expectations and introductory thoughts on public speaking,” Keith took out a notebook and a pen and and prayed to God that the kid next to him, who was giving him a look, wouldn’t try to engage with him, that they could just sit and pretend like the other didn’t exist.  

It turned out to be impossible. Barely two minutes into the teacher’s lecture he heard the kid whisper, “psssstttttt,.” Keith ignored him and hoped he would take a hint, but he didn’t stop. “Pssssstt, hey man.” Lance said, trying to get his attention. Please shut up, Keith thought to himself. “Pssst, hey do you have—“ just then a lot of things happened at once. The kid, who Keith decided to call Coffee Asshole reached out a finger to try to poke Keith and get his attention and Keith, out of reflex, grabbed Coffee Asshole’s hand before he could. C.A, surprised, tried to twist his hand out of Keith’s grasp, and knocked over his coffee and spilled it all over Keith’s shirt, noted, and papers. Keith and Coffee Asshole stared at each other for a moment. Keith’s grey eyes staring into Coffee Asshole’s wide, surprised, blue ones. “What the hell man??” Coffee Asshole whined, “my drink!” Keith’s eyes narrowed in fury, “Your drink? What about my clothes, dickhead?”, he exclaimed incredulously.

“BOYS”, he heard the teacher exclaim from the front, “Care to share with the class what’s so interesting?”

Keith blankly gestured to the coffee that was slowly seeping through his clothes, while Lance started to babble an incoherent stream of excuses. “Enough,” the teacher said with her hand on her forehead, “both of you— detention tomorrow,”

“What??”

“You’ve got to be kidding me”, the two boys exclaimed,

“If I hear another word out of either of you, you’ll be in detention for the next three weeks, am I being perfectly clear? I zero tolerance for mindless disruptions” The teacher said pointedly. Both boys shut their mouths. Keith was fuming,

“Now, I want everyone in the class to watch the video I sent you regarding performance anxiety and the way the featured speakers have overcome it. Take notes. This is an individual exercise and, thus, there should be no talking during the video,” she looked pointedly at Keith and Lance while saying the last sentence. The class took out their headphones and began to listen. Keith saw the teacher reach into her bag and pull out an Aleve, before heading out of the classroom. He felt bad for her, after all, he’d probably have a headache if he had to spend every day trying to teach a bunch of college kids. At least now, Coffee Asshole would have to leave him alone. Throughout the rest of class, he caught Coffee Asshole staring at him at least four times. Keith glared back every time. He hoped the day got better, but judging from the feel of iced coffee spreading through his pants, he decided not to hold his breath.

\---------

The first thing Lance did after his classes had finished was head over to work. His shift wasn’t supposed to start until 4:00, but he had some time to spare and figured he could use the extra money, if he, you know, happened to accidentally clock in a little early. He glanced down at his phone and saw that the unknown number he had accidentally texted earlier still hadn’t texted him back. He decided to reach out again to the person on the other side of the phone, if for no other reason than to have something to distract him from the sun overhead.

 

(14:42) heyyyyy

(14:43) im sorry if i annoyed u

(14:44) i had a rly eventful day if u wanna hear a wild story\

_(14:44) i don’t?_

(14:45) wow i cant believe u replied

(14:45) it is a gr8 story tho

_(14:45) seriously?_

(14:46) ???

(14:46) _are you twelve_

(14:47) noooooo

(14:47) im not twelve

(14:47) y?

_(14:48) I only asked because I haven’t seen anyone spell great ‘gr8’ since middle school_

_(14:48) which means you’re probably either twelve or too old to know how real people talk_

_(14:49) and if you are twelve, someone needs to talk to your parents about letting you talk to strangers…_

(14:50) wow if i didn’t know any better id think u didnt want to talk to me

_(14:50) you would be right_

(14:51) ouccchhh

(14:51) im hurt again

(14:51) u hurt me

(14:51) in my heart

_(14:53) im fine with that…?_

(14:54) :( </3

(15:54) i gotta go anyway

(15:54) but this isnt over

_(15:54) feel free to not text me again…_

 

    Lance sighed and put his phone back in his back as the coffee shop he worked in came back into sight. It was only a couple of blocks from campus, which was a lot more convenient that the previous thirty minute bus ride from home had been. Lance liked working. Not because his job was ideal, it wasn’t. It was pretty much just minimum wage for a couple hours of mindless work every day. Free coffee was one of two good things about working there. The other was the people. Namely, his two closest friends: Hunk and Pidge. The two of them practically lived in that coffee shop, so when Lance walked in the door, he wasn’t surprised to see the two of them huddled over a pile of books and papers, trying to work out what looked like an extremely complicated math problem.

    “Hey, Lance, how was your first day?” Hunk asked, still hunched over his books

    “It was awfulll,” Lance groaned, pulling up an empty chair to the table, “all my classes are sooo hard and I got detention and I didn’t even get to drink the coffee I made this morning,”

    “Wow, sounds like an absolute nightmare. I’d love to hear all about it, if I cared,”, Pidge said, rubbing their temples. Normally Lance would have fired back with an equally sassy retort, but even he could see the prominent bags under his friends eyes, and thought the better of it.

    “What do you mean you got detention? It’s only the first day,” Hunk asked, “were you texting that person in class?”, snapping Lance out of his thoughts,

    “I was not! But I do think they’re warming up to me,”

    “As concerned as I am about the fact you’re still texting a stranger,” Hunk sighed, “can we go back to detention? What happened?”

“Why do you ask?” Pidge grumbled, “Now that you’ve encouraged him we have to—”,

“Hear the whole, entire story of my woe and distress? Yes, you do,”, Lance finished, clearing his throat,

“So, this morning I woke up a little late, came here, got my coffee, and went to my public speaking class, right? And so, like any other normal caffeine deprived human being, I’m a little out of it, right? So the teacher starts talking and I realize that I didn’t bring anything to take notes with. So, I lean over to the guy next to me to ask if I can borrow a pencil, but he doesn’t respond to me, so I figure maybe he’s hard of hearing or something, so I reach over to sort of tap him and get his attention and out of nowhere he grabs my hand like some kind of freaking ninja or whatever and I flinched and my drink spilled everywhere and he like totally flipped out and the teacher got mad and gave us detention, even though all I was trying to do was get a goddamn pencil, and now I have to see this jerkbag in detention and also every day for the rest of the semester because we’re in the same public speaking class and basically my life is a disaster so yeah.” Lance paused and took a deep inhale,

“Wow. That was like thirty seconds of speaking without taking a breath, I’m a little impressed.”, Pidge said without looking up from her textbook. Hunk sighed, “Lance, I love you to death and I hope you never change, but please tell me you at least apologized to the guy after you spilled your drink all over him”. Lance opened his mouth to respond then closed it again, realizing that he hadn’t. Hunk sighed again, and smiled, amusedly, “Maybe if you apologize to him the next time you see him, everything will work out. I’m sure he’ll have forgotten about all of this anyway and then you won’t have to worry about having any more problems.”

“Yeah, and if he still has a problem with you. I’ll tell him to go to hell myself”, Pidge said, to which Lance made an “Awwwww” noise. “Don’t take it to personally,” Pidge replied rolling their eyes, “you’re still a total dumbass, you’re just our dumbass, okay, now please let me study in peace,”.  Lance smiled. Hunk and Pidge had been his closest friends since middle school, even though the three of them seemed to have nothing in common from the outside. Hunk was, true to his name, a pretty big guy who looked like he would be able to crush a human with his bare hands, but was actually just a giant teddy-bear. Pidge, on the other hand, Lance thought, could definitely kill a person without blinking if they ever needed to, though they didn’t look it. Pidge was super, crazy smart. They were in college, even though they were only sixteen, and planned to double major in theoretical physics and computer science. They were pretty much 5’3” of pure fight and evil genius.

Both Pidge and Hunk had started at U of Altea a couple weeks before everyone else as a part of an accelerated program for more advanced students. They were insanely talented, brilliant, and two of the best friends Lance could ever want. The three of them had bonded as outcasts: Pidge: the gender-queer evil genius, Hunk: the big guy with a bigger heart, and Lance who was kind of just… there.  Lance had to admit that, even though he loved being with the two of them, it was hard not to get down on himself when he was surrounded by such amazing people and he was just sort of mediocre at best. Honestly, it was sort of a miracle that he had been accepted into U of Altea at all. After all, he’s not really smart, or gifted, or good at anything. He probably shouldn’t be at U of Altea anyway. It was a selfish decision to begin with. He should be at home taking care of his family instead of pursuing his own selfish— Lance stopped himself and took a deep breath. He was spiraling again. He had to remember that it was a new year and the only thing standing between him and his happiness was himself, and this year he was gonna be happy. So, he plastered a smile back on his face. It was okay if it didn’t reach his eyes just yet, it would eventually, “You know, I have a couple hours before my shift starts. I think I’m gonna go for a little walk or something, clear out the old cranium,”

“I was pretty sure your cranium was already pretty vacant,”

“You know, I might be mad, but I walked right into that one,” Lance laughed, getting up, “I’m gonna leave my bag here until my shift starts, if that’s okay with you guys,”

“We’ll keep it safe until we leave, but we’ll probably be gone by the time your shift starts,” Hunk said, “I think the change of clothes you left here is still in the bathroom if you think you’re gonna go for a run, and make sure to stay hydrated it’s hot out there,”

“Thanks, _mom_ ,” Lance said, heading to the bathroom to get his change of clothes.

“Have fun, loser,” Pidge called after him. He smiled. He always felt better after talking with his friends. With or without coffee, today was starting to look up.

 

    Keith, on the other hand, smelled like coffee and wet dog. He had to wait until after his Spanish class finished to go home and change into a clean pair of clothes. Stupid Coffee Asshole with his stupid face. Keith finished his homework quickly and sent a quick text to Shiro to let him know that his day went well. The day had actually been awful since the coffee incident, but the last thing he needed was Shiro worrying about him. He thought back to Shiro telling him to “make new friends”, yeah right. Try making friends when your entire body is covered in a giant coffee stain. He changed into some athletic clothes and decided to go out for a run. Keith liked running and he was good at it.

Keith didn’t care much to think about to remember the dark place he was in before he started running, but he couldn’t forget it either. Everything he was and everything he did was because of that time changed him, or so he thought, anyways. Shiro was the one that got him started on running, after he found out about the other ways Keith had been… coping, if it could be called that. The first day Shiro took Keith running one day, they ran for miles, Shiro kept pushing Keith until he felt the burning in his chest, his legs, his arms. He loved running. It made him forget. For a little while, he didn’t have to focus on anything except moving forwards. He didn’t have to think about the fact that he had no friends, no family. He could just revel in the burn and the endorphins that came after. However temporary it was, running gave him peace.

Eventually, he realized that he wasn’t the only one running around his neighborhood. He kept seeing the same guy in blue running in front of him. Keith guessed that they were running the same route, the badly paved sidewalk that looped around the neighborhood. People kept petitioning the city to fix the sidewalk, but Keith thought it gave the little college town some personality. He liked the route as it was. But, he disliked running with other people. Running was supposed to be his thing, his escape. So, he decided to try to pass the other runner. If he could finish his route before him, he could hopefully finish his run without having to deal with this other runner. Keith sped up and began to sprint towards and in front of the sprinter, it wasn’t hard to pass him, at his fastest, there weren’t many people who could keep up with Keith. Keith kept running at his fastest, hoping to reach the track well in advance of the other runner’s arrival. Then, to his surprised, the other runner passed him and passed him by a lot. Keith smirked to himself. If the guy in blue wanted a race, Keith would sure as hell give him a race, so he sped up again and passed him, just to get passed again. The two of them ran like that until they reached the track. Red and blue. Neck and neck. Keith was breathing hard feeling the burn in his legs, arms, chest, just the way he liked it. By the time the two of them reached the park near the end of the route, Keith felt like he was running faster than he had ever run. They ran a couple of laps, both of them focused on pushing themselves, determined not to be the first to fall behind, until Keith heard a yelp behind him. He glanced behind him to see the other runner, who had evidently tripped and was clutching their knee in pain. Keith stopped and turned around panting,

“Hey, you okay, man?”, Keith asked, jogging back to check on the other runner.

“YOU!” The other runner exclaimed. It took Keith a second to realize that the guy he had been racing against was the same guy that spilled coffee all over him that morning. Keith’s concerned expression quickly transformed to a scowl, “Oh. It’s you.”, he said, feeling disappointed, for some reason. The other runner, was breathing hard too and covered it sweat. Keith hadn’t noticed the cut of Coffee Asshole’s shoulders before, his legs, and— was he actually wearing a crop top?  Keith glanced at Coffee Asshole’s knee. It looked like he had skinned it pretty bad, Keith felt a twinge of pity for the guy. But, just a twinge. After all, karma.    

“Hey,” Coffee Asshole said, “umm, do you think you could help me up maybe… I’m not totally sure if I can on my own”. Keith looked at his eyes, saw them watering, and instantly felt guilty for thinking that this was any kind of karma.

“Uhhhhh, yeah”, Keith said giving C.A a hand to get up. He winced as he stood, “Thanks, man”

“No problem, dude.” Keith stood there in uncomfortable silence for a second longer, before Lance broke the silence,

“I’m Lance, by the way, I think we met earlier,”

“Yeah, you spilled coffee on me,”

“What!?”, Lance exclaimed, “I spilled my coffee because you twisted my wrist like a crazy person for no reason!”

“For no reason? Are you joking? You wouldn’t leave me alone the entire class!”

“I talked to you for like a minute, first of all,” Lance said, shoving one finger in Keith’s face, “Second of all—“ he added a second, “I just needed a pencil, man! And for that my wrist gets twisted? And _I’m_ the bad guy? Nu—huh—uh”.

    Keith’s brow furrowed. He thought Lance was annoying him for attention. _Projecting much?_ His brain chimed in. He told his head to shut it and looked at Lance, who was pouting. Seriously? What kind of an adult _pouts_ when they’re upset? How old was this guy, five?

    “Do you need help or not?”, Keith said, suddenly aware that he had been holding onto Lance’s arm since he had helped him up. He dropped Lance’s arm like it was a dead fish and Lance stared at the place Keith been holding like he didn’t realize it earlier,

    “What?”

    “Do you need help,” Keith pointed at Lance’s knee,

    “Why aren’t you apologizing for spilling my coffee?”

    “I don’t believe this! _You_ spilled your own damn coffee. I, on the other hand, had to go around the rest of the day with a giant ass coffee stain all over my clothes and you’re making yourself into the victim” Keith said, exasperated, “You know what? Forget it,” Keith said turning away,

    “Hey, wait,” Lance yelled out behind him,

    “Hey, bro… dude…. Mullet! I— I can’t— Aaaoww,” Lance yelled as he tried to follow Keith. Keith glanced back to see Lance on the floor again, holding his knee. It was bleeding more now. Keith put a hand up to his forehead in frustration. He walked back to Lance and pulled him to his feet again,

    “What do you think you’re doing, Mullet,” Lance winced again,

    “I’m not just gonna leave you here, no matter how much of a dumbass you are,” Keith said, “You need a doctor. I’m taking you to— I dunno like a doctor or something. Are there any hospitals nearby?”

    “There’s one on the corner of Kings and Martins Street,” Lance replied quickly, then his eyes widened, almost as if he had said something he shouldn’t have, “Or at least I think there might be,” he rushed,

    “Let’s get this over with,” Keith said sighing, “put your arm around me, it’ll take the weight off of your leg so we can move faster,”. Lance did as he was told. One his arm was draped over Keith’s shoulders, he looked him dead in the eye and whispered,

    “ _But no homo, though, right_?”.

    “Just try to keep up with me, idiot,” Keith bit out, turning away so Lance couldn’t see the pink spreading up his chest into his face. Stupid Lance.

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Lance reflects on his past with hospitals and Keith tries to figure out how the fuck he got into this situation.

When Lance opened his eyes, he was lying down in a hospital bed. The set up was so familiar. The spotted bedsheets. The wallpaper. The uncomfortable pillow. The chill from the air conditioning still gave him goosebumps, despite thin, baby-blue blanket that was spread across his body. Even the old television perched on top on a rolling shelf. The kind that squeaked loudly, no matter how quietly you tried to move it. One thing that _wasn’t_ the same was the boy scowling at his iPhone sitting in the chair in the corner. The boy ran a hand through his shoulder length black hair, evidently frustrated by something at his phone. Despite the chill of the room, he was wearing a red tank—top and black athletic shorts, both of which were well suited to his slender figure. _Coffee boy?_ Suddenly, the boy looked up to him and caught his eye, the look of frustration softening into something more like surprised,

    “What are _you_ doing here?” Lance demanded, hoping the boy hadn’t noticed his staring,

    “I checked you into the hospital after you passed out,” He said, looking annoyed, brushing his bangs out of his face again. Suddenly, it came back to Lance. The run, the agonizing walk to the hospital, feeling dizzy, hearing a voice yelling his name, and— wait did he hear the word parents?

    “You didn’t call my mom, did you?” Lance asked horrified, picturing the worried expression on his mom’s face when she got that call. The boy shrugged, “I was going to, but you didn’t have a phone with you. I can call her now if you give me her numb—“

    “NO, I mean nah, that’s alright,” Lance said looking up towards the ceiling, “mom doesn’t like hospitals,”,

    “Oh,” the boy said, seeming to pick up on the fact that Lance didn’t want to discuss the matter any further, “Well, are you feeling any better at least?”

    “I didn’t realize you cared so much,”

    “I don’t! I was just, just wondering, I dunno,”, The boy said, turning away,

    “It’s okay, you can admit it, I tend to grow on people,” Lance tried to joke, but the words sounded forced, even to his own ears. Apparently, he wasn’t the only one in the family who wasn’t great with hospitals, even now. He looked up at the ceiling again. After a while, it started to move, the pale blue dancing before his eyes, memories swirling and fading, a weak voice whimpering his name. He tried to roll over, to turn away from the shadows his mind casted on the ceiling, but was stopped by the sharp pain in his knee.

    “Are you okay?” Lance looked up, he had almost forgotten that the boy was still sitting there,

    “Are you kidding? I’m better than okay. I’m like…a thing that’s, you know…better than…. okay,”. The boy raised an eyebrow, looking amused,

    “Nice metaphor,”

    “Well, we can’t all be Shakespeare, but I try my best,” Lance grinned, the other boy’s mouth just barely twitched up in a smile. Lance made a mental note that smiling was a good look for this kid, no matter how much of a jerk he might be, Lance thought, picturing the coffee incident in his head again.

    “What happened, exactly?”, The other boy furrowed his brow,

    “You mean you don’t remember?”

    “I remember running, falling, you being a dick, and walking part of the way over here, but that’s about it,” Lance shrugged,

    “Oh,” the boy said, his face turning into an expression that Lance couldn’t quite place, “Well, you sort of fainted, blood loss was a thing that happened, and— you really don’t remember?”

    “Not a thing,”

    “Well, you got stiches and, uh, we, uh, you apologized for, uh, you know, spilling coffee on me,”

    “Really? ‘Cause that sure doesn’t sound like something I would do for something that was your fault,” Lance accused,

    “It’s true! We had a bonding moment. I carried you for like a quarter of a mile!”

    “Nooope. Don’t remember,”,

    “Unbelievable,” the boy frowned, running a hand through his hair again. The two sat in silence for a little while. Lance was bored. He didn’t want to go back to staring at the ceiling, but there was nothing he could really look at in this room that didn’t bring back things he’d rather not remember, he glanced over at the boy, who caught his eye for a split second before turning away again. The boy still looked irritated. Lance figured that was probably just his default state. He was muttering something to himself under his breath.

    “What?,” Lance asked,

    “What.”,

    “What are you muttering to yourself, Mullet,”

    “Nothing and don’t call me that,”

    “Sure looked like something,”

    “It’s nothing,”

    “C’mon, I thought we bonded!”, for some reason that comment made the other boys face flush red,

    “Maybe I was just thinking about what kind of a person trips on flat ground while running,” the boy shot back, seeming angrier than before. Lance felt a challenge coming on,

“So, we ran together for a while, didn’t we?”, he asked slowly

“Yeah, I guess,”

“Interesting,” Lance said, “So, you’ll have to tell me, how does it feel to be slower than me?”, he finished, innocently. The other boy gaped, turning even redder,

“Are you kidding?”

“I mean, I was only curious—“

“I _carried_ you,”

“You _insulted_ me,”

“Whatever!”, the boy exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air, “Besides, it’s not like I would know considering I was kicking your butt until after you tripped over flat ground like an idiot,”

“Oh yeah?”, Lance yelled back, “well _I_ wouldn’t have tripped if I hadn’t been distracted by how you run. I mean your knees go up so high you look like a….”, Lance paused searching for the right words,    

“Like a what?” Keith challenged,

“Like a Chicken—Man!” Lance yelled as the boy flushed red again.

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah”

“Well, I couldn’t even see what you looked like ‘cause you were so far behind me!”

“Well, I wish I hadn’t seen what you looked like because I don’t think I can ever unseen those high-knees, Chicken-Man!”

“Stop calling me a Chicken-Man!”

“Make me, _Chicken-Man”._

“Ugh!”, the other boy yelled, frustrated, “I can’t believe I actually believed all that stuff you said. You’re just so— so,”

“So _what?”_

“So, _Lance_ , I dunno,”, The other boy said running his hand through his bangs again,

“You know my name?” Lance asked, surprised,

“Yeah, I told you we already talked before this, not that it matters now,”

“What’s yours?”

“What?”

“Your name?  I need something to call you besides ‘guy who spilled my coffee’”

    “You spilled that coffee!”

“Details, details”, Lance waved away the (technically true) comment, “So what is it? Or do you prefer Chicken-Mullet-Man?”

“No…just no….”, the boy said sighing, “Like I said an hour ago, I’m Keith,”.

Lance groaned internally as he realized that, without a cell phone, he’d been MIA for at least an hour, probably a lot more if he had really gotten stiches (one quick look at his knee confirmed that yes, he probably had). It meant he had missed his shift at work. Hunk and Pidge were probably worried. Not just that, but his boss was probably furious. He could already picture the look on his face, if he got fired now—

    “Hey, Mullet,”, Lance said, a little panicked

    “I already told you my name is—“

    “Could you do me a favor?”

 

 

 

    Keith didn’t get Lance. One second, they were walking and Lance was being nice to him, going on about his family and his life, telling Keith he’d like it if they could be friends, actual friends, instead of… well whatever was happening now. And five seconds later, after Keith had started to, sort of, well, _care,_ Lance was calling him a _Chicken—Man,_ of all things. Idiot. And now, Keith was sitting with the phone to his ear, calling the friends of some guy that hated him, for no reason other than that he… well he didn’t even really know why he was helping Lance. It’s not like he owed the guy anything. It’s not like they were friends,

    “ _Hey, this is Hunk, sorry I can’t get to the phone right now, but leave a message and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can! Thanks!,”_

    “It went to voicemail,” Keith announced

    “Huh?”

    “I said, it went to voicemail,”, Keith said, wondering again why he was wasting his time with this, one look at Lance, however, and Keith felt guilty for even thinking the words. Lance was staring up at the ceiling again, his blue eyes glassy, his face unreadable. He looked so different from the swaggering, obnoxious Lance from moments before. He looked like— _Beep beep._ Keith didn’t have a chance to figure out exactly what Lance looked like because at that moment his phone rang again. The number was the same one Lance had him dial earlier to reach his friend. Keith walked over to Lance and pushed the phone at him,

    “It’s your friend,”

    “Hmm,” Lance hummed, glancing over at the caller ID, “are you gonna answer it?”

    “Me? It’s your friend!”

    “It’s your phone!”

    “I don’t want to—“

    “Pleaaaase, it’s gonna go to voicemail if you don’t”, Lance stared at him, eyes wide, “I really don’t want to be on the receiving end of his reaction when he finds out what happened,” Lance sighed. Keith looked at Lance and his ridiculous pout. Stupid Lance,

    “Hello,” Keith said, picking up the phone,

    “Oooh can you put them on speaker?”,

“I thought you just said you didn’t want—“

“Pleaaaassse?”, Keith sighed again and pressed the speaker button,

    “Hey, this is Hunk. I think you called me earlier,”

    “Oh, uh, yeah, I’m, uh, with Lance right now, your friend Lance, but not _with_ Lance, just with— we’re at the hospital,” Keith cringed as he heard how awkward the words sounded coming out of his mouth. The only person he ever talked to over the phone was Shiro and there was never any pressure there, not that there _should_ be any pressure here, but Keith felt his palms start to sweat regardless,

    “You’re where?” Hunk asked, “With Lance? Is everything okay?”, Keith could hear the concern for Lance even through the phone,

    “Yeah he’s fine, he just fell when we— I mean he— was running, or, were running, I don’t….grammar is…fun,” Keith heard Lance snickering and shot him a dirty look,

    “Lance is actually right here if you want to talk to him,” that wiped the smirk off of Lance’s face, as Lance frantically began to shake his head no,

    “Yeah, yeah,” Keith added, “he’d love to speak with you. In fact, you’re on speaker right now”

    “Sure, great! Um, hold on one sec— Hey, it’s Lance, he’s at the hospital, I’m gonna put us on speaker to talk to him,”

    “How’s he doing?”, asked another concerned voice that Keith couldn’t quite place,   

    “The guy with him said he’s okay,” Hunk said,

    “A guy? Ooooooh Lance, have you been behaving yourself”, the other voice added mockingly

    “Shut up, please,” Lance hissed, grabbing the phone out of Keith’s hands as Keith felt his face turn red again. Lance turned the speaker button off the phone and pressed it against his ear, ignoring or not noticing Keith’s irritated expression. It wasn’t long before Keith realized he wasn’t going to be included in whatever conversation Lance and his friends were having. Nothing out of the ordinary there, Keith thought to himself. He turned away and began stepping out into the corridor. It wasn’t even Lance’s fault really, Keith should have figured that one conversation was going to be enough to….to, well he wasn’t even sure what it was that he thought would happen. But he did know that he wanted to get as far away from the sinking feeling in his stomach: exclusion and loneliness were both old friends of his, after all. It had been stupid of his to think that Lance could replace them with his _Lanceness,_ he glanced back at Lance one more time before closing the door behind him to see Lance explaining what had happened on their run as animatedly as he could without moving his, the fire behind his blue eyes, the smile that broke across his face. What an idiot.  

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Hope you liked their budding friendship (if you can even call it that yet). As always, feedback helps! Thank you!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which some revelations are had, a food fight ensues, and Lance opens up about a part of his life he'd probably rather keep to himself.

Luckily for Lance, Hunk came to the hospital a little while later. Even luckier, Pidge had covered his shift at work for him. Double—even—luckier, Hunk was able to get him out of the hospital without calling his mom because, Keith, as it turned out, didn’t consider that fact that Lance was an adult and therefore did not need his mother to check him out of the hospital, 

“Well, it’s not my fault he acts like a five-year-old!”, Lance rolled his eyes, remembering Keith’s comment. He did  _ not _ act like a five-year-old, like if anything, he acted at least twelve. Anyways, it was a new day, and no public speaking today meant Keith was out of sight and out of mind, or at least that’s what the saying was. But, in reality, Keith and his dumb mullet were pretty far from out of Lance’s mind, not that Lance planned on admitting that to himself any time soon. He checked his phone, for the time and saw, to his surprise that his stranger had messaged him,

 

_ (16:45) you’ll never guess what happened today _

(12:32) sorry for the late response i didn’t see this!!   
(12:32) look who wants to talk to me now

(12:32) i knew id win u over

_ (12:33) what? _

_ (12:33) oh sorry _

_ (12:33) that last text was supposed to be for my brother _

(12:34) was it? or r u warming up to me?

(12:34) ;)

_ (12:35) I’m not…? I don’t know you…? _

(12:35) and yet ur still txting meeee

_ (12:36) bye… _

 

_ 12:36… _ Lance noted the time,  _ drat,  _ he was supposed to meet Hunk and Pidge at 12:30 for lunch. He hurried to the cafeteria and smiled, when he saw the two of them, characteristically with their heads in books scribbling notes on paper. 

 

“I’ve decided that coffee is not a total, utter, and complete jerkbag,” Lance said plopping down besides his friends, 

“Who’s coffee boy?”, Hunk asked.

“It’s what I’m calling the guy that coffee was spilled on yesterday,” Lance replied,

“You mean Keith?”, Hunk asked, 

“And by ’the guy that coffee was spilled on’ I’m assuming you mean the boy that you spilled coffee on,” Pidge pointed out. Lance shrugged, 

“All I know is that coffee fell on him and he definitely deserved it at the time”. 

“I thought you said that guy ruined your day,” said Pidge, “so, pretending for a second that I care about this, why are we still talking about him,” 

“Excuse me for wanting to update my friends on my life,”

“Hunk already explained most of it,” Pidge held up a hand to stop Lance, “But, you see, what I still don’t understand is why you went running with this guy in the first place if you hate him so much,”

“I didn’t mean to go running with him, it just sort of happened!” Lance exclaimed, suddenly feeling the need to defend himself, “we ran together for like three miles and it was great until I fell, but then he helped me up and he was all sweaty and his hair was in a pony—tail—“

“—Lance, I really don’t need to hear about that—“

“—it’s important because—“

“Lance, I will walk away right now—“

“But—“

“ _ Lance _ —“

“I tried doing what you said and being friendly with him and I thought he was being friendly back, but then out of nowhere he just blew up in my face and so I thought he was, you know, allergic to people and also all good things in life, but, then apparently he carried me to the hospital after I fainted,”

“I feel like you mention that a little too casually,” Hunk interjected,

“I lost a little blood,  _ mom _ , it’s nothing serious,” Lance continued, trying his best to sedate Hunk while still continuing his story, “and anyway, he was kind of, well not  _ nice _ , but tolerable, and I dunno,” Lance said glancing at the closed door Keith had left from, “I guess he’s not really the human equivalent of garbage” 

“Wow. High praise,” Pidge said raising an eyebrow, “but sounds like he’s actually a pretty good guy if he would carry you to the hospital after you fainted,”

“Well, maybe,” Lance said, getting more defensive, “But it doesn’t change the fact that he wasn’t exactly the nicest to me at the hospital,”. 

“What did you do?”, Pidge stared at Lance intently,

“What?”

“What did you do to this poor boy, Lance?”

“Why do you assume I did something?”

“Because I know you and no person would carry you to a hospital just to pick a fight with you. Conclusion: you did something,” 

“No  _ normal  _ person,” Lance quipped back, Pidge continued to stare until Lance confessed, “Well…. And to be fair, he insulted me first, but I— well I sort of might have told him that he looks like a chicken-man when he runs...”. Pidge’s mouth dropped and they burst out laughing, 

“You tried to make friends with him by calling him a  _ Chicken-Man _ ???” Pidge exclaimed, almost in tears, “well I knew you must have done something, but really?” Lance blushed and turned to Hunk for support, only to find that Hunk was desperately trying to hold back laughter, as well.

“Well,” Hunk started, once he had composed himself a little better, “In your defense, I do think he overreacted if it’s true that he flipped out at you because of that, and he shouldn’t have insulted you first, but also…a  _ chicken-man?”  _ Lance nodded sheepishly, 

“At least tell me you got a chance to apologize to him for spilling coffee all over him”, Pidge continued, still laughing,

“Well, he said I did, but I didn’t and then it didn’t exactly come up again…”, Lance trailed off. 

“I still think if you just apologize to him for that, you guys will be fine. He seemed nice enough when I met him and you really don’t want to have to spend your entire college experience avoiding this guy,”, Hunk sighed,

“Are you kidding?” Lance exclaimed, “I’m not planning on avoiding him at all. We’re rivals now, sworn enemies for life, and I must defeat him to reclaim my honor.”

“Five seconds ago, you said you didn’t even think he was that bad,” Hunk pointed out, 

“Well…that was before Pidge made me…realize that he was, that he is, still a …not nice person and why are you still laughing?” Lance pointed at at Pidge. 

“Awww man,” Pidge said, almost doubled over in laughter, “you really don’t get it do you?”

“Get what? What??”

“First of all, you haven’t been able to stop talking about this guy since you met him. Second of all, you get all defensive when I start talking about him. Third of all,” Pidge had to pause at this point to let out a loud ‘HA’, “You called him a  _ Chicken-Man”  _

“Whatever you’re implying,” Lance said, his face turning red, “you are so, so wrong. I can’t even begin to express just how wrong—“

But it was no use. Lance wasn’t able to even finish his sentence because Pidge began loudly chanting “Lance loves Chicken-Man” while laughing hysterically. But soon, Lance’s protests disappeared as he started laughing too. Soon all three of them were laughing about how ridiculous the name ‘Chicken-Man’ was in the first place, until Lance looked up to find the Chicken-Man himself staring at them with his mouth wide open and face bright red. He turned away and rushed to the other side of the cafeteria, where he sat with his head in his hands. Suddenly Pidge caught Lance’s eye, all traces of laughter gone from their face, 

“Wait- is that your Chicken-Man? That’s Keith?”, 

“Yeah that’s him, why? Do you know him, or something?” Lance furrowed his eyebrows,

“Yeah… We actually did an astronomy camp thing together a couple of years ago and whatever beef or whatever it is you have with him, you should probably just let it go,”

“What? Why? A second ago you were hysterical about the name Chicken-Man”, 

“Yeah that was before I knew who you were talking about. Look, Keith’s a good guy, but from one I’ve head he’s been through a lot of stuff, okay? Just drop it.” Pidge sighed,

“But I—“

“I said drop it, Lance”, Pidge glanced over at Keith, who still had his head in his hands while his friend patted him on the shoulder, “I’m actually gonna go check on him and explain what happened. See you in a little bit.”, Pidge got up leaving Lance and Hunk staring after them.

“What do you think that was about?” Lance asked, 

“I’m not sure, but if Pidge cares about him enough to go check on him, he must not be all that bad”, Hunk replied as they watched Pidge sit next to Keith and put a hand on his shoulder, “at least you were sort of right about that,”

“Yeah, I guess so.”, Lance said, watching Keith raise his head and turn to glare directly at him, eyes burning. 

 

Keith was trying his best to breathe deeply. He peripherally heard Shiro telling him to inhale and exhale. Keith felt like an idiot for thinking he could escape everything by going to college where no one was supposed to know him. After all, he was the problem and he couldn’t run away from himself. Haha. He wished he had never met Lance, but he really only had himself to blame. He could have just not brought him to the hospital. He could have just not let himself get involved. Then he wouldn’t be sitting here in this stupid cafeteria with some stupid kids making fun of him because— well for no reason at all really, except that God hated him, apparently. He laughed a little to himself. There was no point thinking about what he did to deserve this, no one gets anything in the world because they deserve it.  He could try to blame all of this on Lance, but it wouldn’t really be true. It probably didn’t matter where he went or what he did. The universe would always just find a way to screw him over. Whether it was some idiot and his friends making fun of him, or just, you know, his parents getting flattened by a drunk driver. 

He felt a hand on his shoulder, smaller and lighter than Shiro’s could have been. He looked up to see Pidge of all people looking at him.  

“What are you doing here?”

“Nice to see you too.”

“It’s been like a year, Pidge.”

“Yep”

“So, you’re like fifteen.”

“Sixteen”

“Do you go here now?

“Yep”

“Oh…wow.”

“Yep”, Pidge smiled proudly,

“That’s really impressive”

“Thanks”, they both paused. Neither Keith nor Pidge was very good at small talk, both had two dominant emotions in most conversations: blunt and snarky. That was part of the reason they had become such close friends at astronomy camp, and probably also the reason that they hadn’t kept in touch very well since then. Just then, Shiro chimed in, saving them,

“Hey, I’m Shiro, Keith’s friend. You must be Pidge,” he said leaning over to shake Pidge’s hand with his good one, “I hear you really looked out for Keith last year at space camp, thanks for that,”. Keith rolled his eyes as Shiro smiled and felt a spark of irritation. He wasn’t a baby. He didn’t need anyone to ‘look after him’, but Shiro continued oblivious, “So how have you been the last year? I’m sure you and Keith must want to catch up, since you’re friends and all,” Shiro beamed as he said he word ‘friends’ and Keith flushed. He mentally begged him to stop making him seem like such a socially inept loner, but Shiro, oblivious to Keith’s embarrassment, just kept talking, “How has coming back to school been? Did you have a good first day? Are you in Keith’s grade?’,

“Shiro, let them talk—“

“Sorry, I’ve just never actually met one of your friends before—“

“ _ Shiro” _

__ “Just let me be friendly, c’mon,”, Shiro continued to burden Pidge with his questions as Keith mumbled something about ‘not my real dad’”. Once Shiro had stopped his questions to take a breath, Pidge butted in,

“Well, I actually started here a couple weeks ago for, uh, this program thing, so yesterday wasn’t really my first day and, uh, yeah I guess that means we’re both freshman this year so we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other, and stuff,” she rushed through the words, trying to finish them before Shiro could continue his ‘new friend’ interrogation, “And I actually sort of wanted to talk to Keith about something alone if that’s okay with you,”. Keith scoffed, “Good luck getting him to leave. Now that he’s got you in his grasp, you’ll never escape,”. Shiro made some sort of non-committal noise, while apparently catching a glimpse of something over Keith’s solider, 

“You know what?”, Shiro said, distracted, “You guys catch up. I—I’ll catch up with you later, okay, Keith?”. Keith turned around to see Shiro call out woman he had never seen before,

“Looks like your buddy would rather hang out with his girlfriend than interrogate me,” Pidge said with an eyebrow raised,

‘Yeah…”, Keith trailed off. He thought he knew everything about Shiro, but he had definitely never heard him even mention talking to a girl. He’d be sure to ask him about it later. 

“Umm, so listen”, Pidge started, breaking Keith out of his thoughts, “The real reason I came over here wasn’t just to catch up. I, well, I wanted to check up on you after that thing with Lance back there,” Keith sighed, 

“You saw that too, huh?”, he glanced back to where Lance and Hunk were still sitting and glared, “It’s only been two days. Two! And this  _ Lance  _ kid just, I dunno, for whatever reason, had decided that it’s personal mission to come into my life and do…things!” Keith said, waving his arms to compensate for his inadequate description, 

“He’s really not trying to do anything to you,” Pidge said sheepishly as Keith’s eyes narrowed, gears turning in his head,

“It was  _ you  _ on the phone with him, wasn’t it? I knew I recognized that voice from somewhere. You’re actually friends with that guy? With  _ Lance? _ ”,

“We weren’t— I wasn’t— look, I’m really sorry about that thing over there with Lance. I didn’t know that you were the guy he was talking about,”, 

“Yeah, just give me a chance to explain, okay?” 

“Explain what? We haven’t talked in years now you show up after making fun of me with that Lance and—“

“We weren’t making fun of you, Keith, I swear”, Pidge sighed, “Look I know you have some anger issues or whatever—“

“I do not have anger issu—“

“But if you’re not willing to at least listen—“

“You’re the one not listening!”

“Ugh!,” Pidge said putting a hand on their forehead, “I forgot how stupidly stubborn you are,” Pidge looked up under their hand with a terrifying look in their eye, “Too bad I’m worse” 

“You don’t—“ Keith started, 

“Huh?”, Pidge replied, in what was definitely not an indoor voice,

“That’s not—“

“WHAT? Huh, it’s NOT something, I don’t—“

“You’re too loud, people are star—“

“What, KEITH, are people STARING AT US?” Pidge yelled, attracted irritated glances from the students around them. 

“Will you please be quiet,” Keith hissed through his teeth, 

“NO”, Pidge yelled. Keith hadn’t know that anyone was capable of yelling with a smirk, but Pidge pulled it off pretty well. Keith opened his mouth to object, then closed it when he saw Pidge getting ready to yell. Pidge looked him dead in the eye, “I can do this all day, Keith Kogane,”. Keith looked around at the students who were still staring and sighed, “Fine. Talk.”

Pidge took a breath, “So basically, Lance was really nervous about starting here. He didn’t sleep much the night before and so he got some coffee, but, uh, you already knew that, obviously… and basically, he when he sat next to you it was just because he wanted to be your friend, and everything else that happened was just sort of a misunderstanding, but I promise you that he didn’t mean to spill coffee on you or ruin your run, okay? He’s a good guy, behind all the dramatics,” Pidge paused, contemplating,  

“I mean, in a couple of ways, you’re not wrong. Lance  _ is  _ a total pain in the ass. I mean really, the guy can be a Grade-A-Asshole sometimes, but he’s a good person too,” Keith scoffed, “I mean it. Look, you know how hard stuff was for me when I first came out and cut my hair and stuff. My parents weren’t super supportive, I was three years younger than everyone else in my grade, I had no friends, and I was just, kinda messed up okay? Lance was the guy who snapped me out of that, and yeah, he annoyed the hell out of me at first. I mean, seriously, the guy has no off-switch, but he really took me in, made me feel like I was a part of like, I dunno, a little family or something, which sounds really dumb and cheesy I know,” Pidge sighed, “Look, I’m a lot better with numbers and math than words and people. That’s how I’ve always been, but Lance never cared about any of that stuff. He’s really loyal and a good friend and, basically, I just owe him a lot okay? So yeah I’m gonna at least plead his case to you because I don’t like the idea of two of my friends hating each other, okay? So are you cool with him now or what?”.

Keith was silent, and not just because the emphasis that Pidge put on the  _ or what _ made him a little terrified to know just what  _ or what  _ would entail,

“I’ll think about it… I guess,” Pidge frowned, “I mean if you like him, he must not be a complete asshole,” Keith finished quickly, afraid to face their wrath. Pidge smiled a little, “Great! Then I guess you should probably come over and finish up your lunch with all of us,”

“What?”

“Yeah, it’ll be fun. You can get some more friends for Shiro to interview. Besides what’s the worst that could happen?” Pidge said, grabbing Keith by the collar of his jacket and dragging him towards the table where Lance and Hunk sat.  _ Yeah _ , Keith thought to himself dryly,  _ what could possibly go wrong? _

 

\---------

 

“What is Pidge doing??” Lance said as he saw them pulling an irritated Keith towards the table,  

Hunk raised an eyebrow, “She said she knew Keith, right? She probably just wants you two to get along,” Just then Pidge, arrived at the table, Keith standing right behind her. Pidge smiled her ‘I’m definitely planning something, but I’d never tell you what” smile. She yanked her arm, which was apparently clutching the collar of Keith’s jacket, forcing him to plop down in the seat right next to Hunk. Right across the table from Lance, who promptly stood up,

“How dare you bring my… mortal enemy to this place of fine dining, Pidge Gunderson??,” he said flailing his arms and pointing and both Keith and Pidge wildly., “I am ashamed and disgraced to call you my companion.”, his eyes narrowed, “Who’s side are you on, anyway? Huh?”, 

“There are no sides, Lance. Keith is my friend. You are also my friend. I don’t like when my friends fight. Therefore, you two must also be friends. End of story,” Pidge shrugged, “I explained to Keith how you didn’t mean to spill your stuff or make fun of his weird running or whatever, so you guys are cool now,”, she looked at Keith pointedly, “right, Keith?”

Keith looked up at Pidge blankly, then to Lance, then back to Pidge before sighing exasperatedly, “Yeah, whatever,”

“Lance?”, Pidge said to a (still) pouting Lance, “Are you cool”,

“I’m always cool!”, he said loudly, before tossing a wink at Pidge. Keith scoffed, 

“Problem,  _ Keith _ ?”, Lance challenged, Keith flushed, 

“Nothing, just you wink too much,”

“I  _ wink  _ too much???”

“Yeah, you do,” 

“You just met me yesterday,”   
“Yeah and I’ve already seen you wink like four times. It’s just so, I dunno”

“So, what,  _ Keith,  _ WHAT?”

“You’re just…really extra, aren’t you?”. Keith said, emotionlessly,

“EXTRA?! See what happened, Pidge?”, Lance whined, “You brought Chicken-Man over here for one minute and he’s already insulted my classic wink and called me extra! I mean what’s that about??”

“I already told you not to call me Chicken-Man!”

“What do you prefer,  _ Mullet _ ?” Keith flushed and defensively put a hand up to his pony—tail, “It’s not a mullet! My hair’s just long. I happen to like it like that.”

“HA! Who’s extra now,  _ Mullet _ !”

“Don’t call me that! And it’s not extra if I actually brush my hair in the morning, not that that’s something you’d get”,

“I’ll have you know that I have a  _ very  _ thorough skin-and-hair-care routine,”   
“Well you definitely wouldn’t know it from looking at you,”

“Take that back, Hot Topic!”

“Stop it with the dumb nicknames, already!”, Keith growled, 

“Oooooooh,” Hunk chimed in, in the background. Their banter paused and Lance looked up to see that all eyes from the surrounding tables were on them. That was okay. If there was one thing he knew, it was how to put on a show. Keith on the other hand, looked considerably more uncomfortable with the attention. And Pidge…well…they looked done with the both of them, probably regretting the decision to bring Keith over to the table, possibly regretting every decision they had ever made that had led them to this point.

“Well, it looks like we’re gonna have to settle this the old—fashioned way,” Lance declared, sticking his finger in Keith’s face, “We must duel!”

“I’m not going to duel you, idiot,” Keith said, looking increasingly uncomfortable as more eyes turned to the two of them, “look Pidge, thanks for trying to introduce me to your friends and all, but I really think you’d be better off without this one,”

 

Keith got up to leave, and was walking away until he felt a wet glob hit him in the back of the head and heard Lance whooping in the background. He scooped a glob off and examined it. Mashed potatoes? Really?, 

“Whooooooops!”, Lance cackled, “Guess you’re gonna need to give that mullet a little extra— Oomf!” Lance yelled as a meatball hit him squarely in the forehead and he fall off the chair he had been standing on. Now it was Keith’s turn to laugh, “Sorry, I hope that extra grease doesn’t mess up your  _ “Verrryy extennssive skin care routine,”  _ he mocked. Lance got up from the floor with a glint in his eye, 

“Oh, It’s on,  _ Mullet!” _

  
  


For some reason, as Lance and Keith learned, food fights were considered to be a punishable offense in schools, no matter how much someone deserved to get hit in the face with a meatball, or in the head with mash potatoes, which is why they ended up having their detention extended from 2:30—4:30 to 2:30—8:30.

  
  
\--------  
  
  


“I’m really sorry, Shiro, I know how badly you wanted me to just have a normal week and stuff but Lance—“ 

“Keith. I don’t know what you’re beef with this Lance kid is, and to be honest I don’t really care. I mean a food fight? Are you serious?”

“He started it, I didn’t mean for—“

“Things could have been a lot worse for you today than just cleaning duty, you know that, right? I really stuck my neck out for you today, and I don’t want to have to do it again,”

“I know, Shiro, I just,” Keith looked down at his feet, “I’m sorry.”, Shiro looked at Keith sadly, 

“Look, I know better than anyone that it’s hard to leave the past behind,”

“That’s really not what this wa—“

“But, please, try not to make any enemies, while you’re here,”

“You don’t have to worry about me Shiro, besides I don’t even think we’re enemies or anything like that,”

“I’m serious, Keith,” Shiro continued, “I just care about you.”

“I know, Shiro.”

They walked together in silence, until they reached the cafeteria, where Keith would be spending his ‘cleaning duty’, 

“Take care of yourself, okay?” 

“Okay Shiro, I promise,”. Keith felt a pang of sadness watching Shiro walk away. What did the poor guy ever do to deserve getting attached to a person like himself. He looked around the cafeteria. It looked like nothing had been cleaned at all, since the incident that afternoon. There was potato and gravy smeared on almost all of the tables and walls. Keith thought he even spotted some on the ceiling. Incidentally, there was also no sign of Lance. Keith sighed, figures he couldn’t be bothered to show up and help Keith clean this mess up.  

“But mom, I have to say, I don’t have a choice”. Lance said, walking into the room, looking extremely frustrated with, who Keith guessed, must be his mom _.  _ Lance saw Keith staring and stuck out his tongue, before walking out to finish his conversation in private. Keith sighed. This was going to be a long night. 

It was a couple more minutes before Lance finally got off the phone and sauntered back in, 

“Sorry you had to see that,” Lance said sheepishly, “I’m supposed to look after my sister, but now I have to be here and so my mom is all mad because she has call my abuela, but her and abuela aren’t getting alone right now, apparently, so now, because of the food fight, I’ve stirred up all this drama and yeah,” Lance laughed, rubbing the back of his neck, “but that’s family you know. And hey, maybe when mom and abuela talk because of this, they’ll make up. That’d be pretty cool, wouldn’t it? Lance looked at Keith eagerly. Keith wasn’t sure what to say. It was like Lance was a whole different person, the person he had talked to for an hour, the one he had carried to the hospital, the same one Pidge had described at lunch,

“Anyway, we better get to cleaning because, as they say  _ thyme _ is money,”,  he said pointing at a green thing on the floor that was definitely not thyme and laughing at his own joke. 

Nah, Keith thought to himself, it was definitely the same Lance,

“Let’s just get this over with,” Keith said, getting to his feel. Lance’s face fell, 

“Oh, okay yeah,” he clearned his throat and boomed in a mock announcer voice, “LET THE FIRST ANNUAL FOOD FIGHT CLEAN UP COMMENCE!”. Keith raised an eyebrow without smiling,

“I don’t know about you, but I have no plans on making this and annual thing. Let’s just get it all cleaned up before we get into any more trouble,”

“Yeah, yeah,” Lance waved, “you have to admit, it was pretty fun, though, right?”. Keith grabbed a mop from a supply closet and tossed it over to Lance,

“No,”. He said blankly, watching Lance’s face fall again. He had given trying to be nice to Lance a chance, and all it had gotten him was here, stuck at school, sweeping food off a cafeteria floor that looked like it hadn’t been cleaned since way before the school year started. In fact, every interaction he’d had with the guy so far had gotten him in trouble or hurt. Keith decided that he would have to just ignore him and best he could and hope that Lance took a hint. Spoiler alert: He didn’t. 

“So, is that Shiro guy your brother? I saw him walking you here. Seems like you two are pretty close, Huh?” 

“Yeah, He’s sort of my brother,” he said, pointing at a glob of food stuck to the wall, 

“Less talking. More working,”. Lance put his hands up defensively, 

“Just trying to make some friendly conversation,”

“I don’t want to be your friend.”, Keith snapped. 

“Well  _ I  _ don’t want to be  _ your  _ friend either. It’s just a figure of speech, get over it, Mullet!”, Lance said sticking out his tongue again before he turning around and peeling off the glob of food on the wall. They worked together in silence for a little bit longer before Lance said, 

“So, you’ve really got this whole loner, emo thing worked out, don’t you?”

“You really can’t handle silence, can you?” 

“I can handle anything just fine,  _ Mullet _ , I’m just saying, the fingerless gloves, the long hair, the anti—social behavior, it’s all pretty textbook emo, if you ask me.”

“I’m not asking you. Clean faster. I want to leave.” 

“Geez, okay, okay, you really don’t wanna talk today do you?”

“To you? Never.”

“Ouch,  _ Mullet _ , and here I thought we bonded today.”

“Bonded?”, Keith stopped sweeping, “You called me  _ Hot Topic  _ and threw potatoes at me. How is that bonding?”

“Don’t lie! I saw you laughing. You had fun.”

“Only when I hit you in the face with that carrot”

“Right, sorry, I forgot, true emo kids don’t have fun, amiright?”

“Will you just shut up?”

“I can’t. The talking is part of my charm.”

“Oh. Is that what you call it?” 

“Yep”, Lance said, then more soberly, “Look, man, I can’t help but sort of feel like we got off on the wrong foot,”

“Ya think?”, Keith asked sarcastically, “It doesn’t matter right now. What matters is cleaning so that we can go home.”

“I know. I know!”, Lance said defensively, “but still, as a friend of your friend,”

“You and me aren’t friends.”, 

“I didn’t say that I said ‘ _ friend of your friend’ _ , Mullet”

“I don’t even know Pidge that well.”

“Geez what is with you and the f—word,”

“None of your business, that’s what.”

“Guess you really must not wanna hear what I have to say then,”

“I really don’t”. 

“Fine. I guess we’ll just keep cleaning this cafeteria then. In total silence. Which, by the way, I don’t mind at alllll,”. It only took a couple of minutes before Lance broke the silence humming. Keith sighed and tried to focus on reaching a meatball that had rolled under a counter, 

“ _ I stay out too late—” Lance _ began to sing. Keith groaned, 

“Will you please—“

“ _ go on too many dates,”  _

“—stop”. Keith turned around to see Lance using his broom handle as a microphone in between sweeping. 

“ _ That’s what people sayyy mmmm that’s’s what people sayy say mmm—“  _

“Those aren’t even the right words,” Lance looked at Keith surprised, Keith wondered if Lance had forgotten he was even there, “It’s ‘that’s what they all say’ not ‘that’s what people say’. Lance’s eyes widened, 

“Oh! So now you want to talk?”

“It’s not that it’s just if you have to sing, you might as well sing the right words”   
“Those ARE the right words,”

“They aren’t, but it doesn’t matter”

“It doesn’t matter? I might have accepted you as my running rival, but NO ONE questions my devotion to T—Swift. Do YOU dare to question? Huh?”

“You know what, no…just…no”, Keith said, then followed up thoughtfully, “rival, huh?” 

“Uh, yeah,”, Lance shrugged, “I figured since you hate the f—word, we needed something to refer to call each other,” Lance looked up from his sweeping, “Is that okay? Or would you prefer I refer to you as ‘My Friend’s Angry Mulleted Associate’”

“I don’t think Mulleted is a word,”. 

“Then why are you the most mulleted person I’ve ever met? Hmmm?”. Lance laughed and went back to his broom. Keith was about to snap back but paused, confused. There was nothing about Lance’s laugh or his smile that was malicious or mocking. It seemed like he either just had a lot of fun tormenting Keith or… maybe Lance actually thought they were having a good time? Keith didn’t get it. The guy definitely had some attention issues and a personality that rubbed Keith the wrong way, in every way that someone could be rubbed wrong, but there was something about the way he had looked at Keith when he asked if it was okay. It was like he really cared about what Keith thought about his dumb nickname. Maybe Pidge was right, maybe that conversation they had on the way to the hospital was the real Lance, maybe Lance really did want to be his…friend.

“Are you checking me out, dude?”  

“What??” Keith realized he had been staring, “Don’t flatter yourself, I was just spacing out and you—“, he was cut off by Lance’s laughter,

“Just kidding. That was a joke. You know, that thing people do when they say something and it’s not literal.”

“I know what jokes are!” Lance started laughing harder, 

“Yeah, obviously”, Keith was about to fire back at his still laughing ‘rival’, when Lance’s phone began to ring. The ringtone was more Taylor Swift, because of course it was. Lance frowned, 

“Sorry, Mullet, I have to take this call—“

“Can you please stop calling me—“

“It’s my mom again. I gotta take this call. Is that okay?”. Keith sighed looking at the barely cleaned cafeteria,

“Fine. It’s not like you were helping that much before anyway,”

“I’m gonna make you eat those words, Mullet,”, Lance’s brow furrowed, “but after this call.”. Lance picked up the phone and headed out the door, Keith looked at the mess around him and sighed. He’d been sighing a lot since he met Lance. Still, he thought to himself, things had been a lot more interesting in his life since the appearance of his new ‘rival’. 

—————

“I already told you I can’t be home until seven, mom.” 

“Lance?” Lance’s youngest sister squeaked over the phone.

“Sophie? What are you doing? You know you’re not supposed to use the phone unless—“

“Lance, I’m scared”. Lance got quiet. Sophie knew not to use the phone unless it was an absolute emergency. 

“Sophie, I need you to tell me what’s happening? Are you in trouble? Is everyone okay?”

“No one is here,” Lance heard the tears in her voice, “Mama l—left to go to work, she said Abuela was gonna c—come over, but she didn’t. Then Amanda left with her b—boyfriend and Michael went to w—work and I’m h—hungry and I don’t know I d—don’t know what to do.”

“Sophie—“

“C-come home,”

“Sophie, sweetie, I can’t right now I—“

“L-lance, I-I’m s-scared”

“Sophie—“

“P-please?”. Lance glanced back to Keith who was angrily kicking a stubborn glob of something that wouldn’t come off the floor, 

“Okay. I’m gonna try to get home now. Okay? Just breathe. Lance is coming home. Okay? Your big brother is going to make everything okay,”

“D-don’t hang up”

“I have to go for a little bit, but I’ll be home soon. Okay? Go watch some T.V. in the meantime” 

“L-lance”

“Promise me you’re going to be okay until I get there, Sophie”

“B-but I-I’m —,”

“Sophie, promise me”

“W-what if someone comes to the house”

“That’s not going to happen, okay, Sophie? Now, promise me.”

“I-I promise”

“That’s great. Now say it again like you mean it.”

“I promise I’m gonna be okay”. 

“Good job, Sophie. I’ll be there as soon as I can, alright?”

“O-Okay,”

“Okay, I’ll see you in a little bit, okay?

“Okay,”

“Alright, I love you. See you soon,”

“Promise, L-lance?” 

“I promise,”

“Bye, then,”

“See you soon, Sophie,”

Lance walked back into the room where Mr. Grumpypants (Keith) was staring at him, looking irritated, as usual,

“Did I hear you say you were going somewhere?”, Lance sighed, 

“Look man, I’m really sorry. It turns out my sister is home alone right now. She’s only five and she’s scared and she called and I just, I gotta go,”. Keith stared at him with that blank, mildly annoyed expression that Lance guessed was probably just his default face. Lance looked around at the mess he would be leaving Keith to clean up on his own and awkwardly shuffled his feet, “It’s not that I don’t feel bad about having to leave on you like this, but my family has to come first,”. 

At those words, Keith turned around, but Lance could have sworn he saw Keith’s deadpan expression falter just slightly into something that looked…well he wasn’t sure, but it looked almost sort of sad,

“Get out of here,” Keith said, his back still turned to Lance,

“Huh?”

“It’s fine, just get out of here. I’ll deal with this,”. 

“That’s it?”

“What?”

“You’re just gonna let me go? No more questions? No insulting my ringtone? I thought at least you’d want to—“

“Just go home to your sister.” And just like that, the conversation was over. As he turned away, he thought about two things. The first thing he thought about was Keith’s remarkable skill of killing conversations with nothing but a few words. The second thing he thought about was that Keith’s words would have come out as biting, if it wasn’t for the slightest voice crack on the word ‘sister’. He glanced back as he reached the doorway to Keith, who was still sweeping the floor, 

“I’m sorry,”. Lance called out, as he rushed out the door. He hoped Keith could hear that he was actually sorry, though he wasn’t really sure why. Yeah, he had tried to be friendly today. But, Keith was a total jerkbag. Just a total textbook wanna be goth, jerkface. Every time he had tried to be nice to the guy today, he’d been dismissed like he was nothing. So why did he even feel bad about leaving him alone? After all, the guy probably beat up kids in his free time or something else horrible. Lance felt another pang of guilt thinking those words. But why? Was it the look in Keith’s eyes when Lance told him he was going to leave? Lance was probably just imagining things out of his own guilt because HE was a good person. Unlike stupid Keith with his stupid mullet and stupid—

Lance was snapped out of his inner monologue by the whooshing sound of the bus stopping around the corner. He started sprinting, 

“Hey, HEY, WAIT DON’T’, the bus closed its doors, “go…”. Lance felt his heart sink as the bus pulled away, hearing Sophie’s ‘I’m scared’ echoing in his head. He checked his phone for the next bus, which didn’t come for another,

“FOURTY FIVE MINUTES?” He exclaimed out loud”. He looked around desperately trying to figure out a better way to get home. It was already 5:00, there barely anyone else on campus, much less anyone that would give him a ride. He could walk, but then he’d get there about the same time as the bus, even with the forty-five-minute head start. He put his hands on his face and groaned. He could call Sophie to let her know he probably wouldn’t be able to get home before dark, but no, he couldn’t do that to her. The only reason she calmed down at all is because she thinks you’re about to be home soon, idiot, he thought to himself. The only other person on campus he could ask for a ride would be Keith. But why would Keith help him? The guy probably only let him go in the first place because he wanted Lance to get hit by a car or something on the way out, I mean it was clear that Keith hated him. _Are you really going to put your own pride before your sister? Pathetic. It was bad enough you made her a promise you didn’t even know you could keep._ Lance closed his eyes and begged that voice in his head to be quiet so he could sort out what to do next. _But, why? I mean, I know you the truth. You weren’t fast enough to get the bus. You weren’t not smart enough to keep your head down and not get detension. You’re a terrible brother, and now it turns out you can’t even handle your own brain talking to you, but then again, what else would we expect from you, Lance._ Lance shook his head and started running back to the cafeteria, 

“KEITH!”, Keith jumped at the sound of Lance’s voice. 

“What are you doing here? I thought I told you to go home. I’ve got things covered here.”. Lance looked around and noticed with some hesitation that Keith was right. The place was a lot cleaner than it had been fifteen minutes ago when Lance had left. 

“Do you have a car?” 

“Do I have a what?”

“I missed my bus and I have to get home to my sister, but the next bus doesn’t come for another forty minutes and there’s no one else on campus because every left because its late and I need to get home.”, Lance panted, still out of breath from his run back to the cafeteria. Keith was still wearing what Lance decided to call his ‘true-emos-never-show-emotion face’,

“No”

“No?”

“I don’t have a car,”. Lance’s groaned. 

“Then what am I supposed to do? I can’t tell Sophie that I can’t make it home. The only reason that she calmed down in the first place is because she thinks I’m going to be there and— what are you doing?” 

“Getting my keys,”, said Keith with his bag in his hand, 

“Keys…?”

“For my bike.”. Lance scrunched up his eyebrows in confusion, while Keith continued to stare blankly, “I can drive you on my bike.”

“You JUST said you didn’t have a car.”

“I don’t have a car. I have a bike. It’s outside.”

“You could have just SAID you had a bike instead of making me think I was going to be stuck here.”

“I don’t like cars, bikes are different” Keith mumbled, reaching for the door, 

“Wait, does this mean you’re actually going to take me?”

“If it’s the only thing that’ll get you to shut up, it’s not like I really have a choice.”, Keith continued to avoid Lance’s eye, “let’s just go make sure your sister is okay—” he said with what Lance could have mistaken for compassion if Keith hadn’t finished his sentence with snapping “—and then you’re gonna come back here and help me clean up this mess. Got it,  _ Lance _ ?” 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we meet Lance's little sister who, much to Lance's chagrin, loves Keith instantly. Also, Keith opens up about the reason he's so withdrawn and oops Keith might be in love.

 

“Keith, you can’t be getting into any more fights at school, okay?”, A woman, about 35-years-old said, cradling a bawling child in her arms,

“I-it wasn’t m-my fault. H-he called me s-stupid. I—I’m not—“

“I know, baby, I know. It’s okay now.”, She delicately stroked the bruise that was already starting to form on his left cheek. Seeing as the child wasn’t about to stop crying any time soon, she gently pried herself out of his grip, and placed him on the floor, 

“C’mon, let’s go do something fun to cheer you up. How about we go out for a snack?” Keith nodded, reaching for his mother’s hand, “Can we get pizza?” 

“Would you like pizza?”. Keith nodded again, “Okay, let’s go see if daddy can meet us for Pizza.” The woman started walking to the door, 

“Waaait,” Keith whined, “Carry me?” 

“Fine,” Keith’s mom picked him up and placed a kiss on his forehead while Keith giggled. On the way out of the house, Keith ran his hand along the frilly, cream colored wallpaper. He liked the way his fingers brushed across the one spot in the house where the wallpaper peeled back to reveal the bright blue paint underneath. He liked the way his dad told the story about how he had painted the entire living room blue to surprise his mom when they found out they were having a boy. He didn’t like imagining that the house was there before he existed, but his mom told him that things were better after he came to the family, so he figured he didn’t miss much. 

Keith’s mom planted another kiss on his forehead as she buckled him into the space car seat he had picked out the month before, for his birthday. On the car ride over, he traced the planets with his fingers. One day, he would go into space himself. He decided to bring his mom a piece of the moon to thank her for the car seat. 

Keith’s dad was already waiting for them at the pizza place, “Hey sport,” he said ruffling Keith’s hair, “heard you got in a little bit of a fight today,”

“Thomas, he just started to cheer up—“

“He can tell me about it himself, Caroline.” Keith’s dad said looking at Keith, 

“Umm…. well…” Keith mumbled, fidgeting with his shirt, “I was talking about my astronaut kit, the one with the space rocks that we got from the musuam,

“Mus-e-um,” Keith’s mom corrected gently, 

“from the mus-e-um,” Keith continued, “and John said that the rocks weren’t really from space, but I said that they were because the box said space rocks and he said that I was stupid for thinking that they were real, but I-I”, Keith’s eyes began to tear up again, but he pouted, determined not to cry said “but, I’m not stupid and I don’t care what he says and I like my rocks.”

“And that’s all that happened?” Keith’s dad said, raising an eyebrow,

“Well… I sort of hit him with one of the rocks…”. Keith’s dad opened his mouth and started a laugh that, with disapproving one look from Keith’s mom, quickly turned into a cough.

“We’ve talked about this, Keith, words are just words. There’s never a need to be violent like that, you know that right,”

“Right,” Keith began to fumble with his shirt again, uncomfortably

“So now that we’ve gotten that out of the way… Did you win?”

“Thomas!”

“What?” Keith’s dad said laughing, “Keith already learned his lesson and he’s not going to do it again. I, for one, am glad to know that my boy is capable of looking after himself,” he leaned down and whispered in Keith’s ear, “but you better prove me right, buddy. Your mom scares me when she’s angry,”

“Me too,” Keith whispered back, giggling. 

“Ah! Looks like Pizza’s here!” Keith’s dad exclaimed as the waiter approached their table. Keith reached his hand out to grab a slice when his mom cleared her throat. Keith looked up and pulled his hand back. The two adults shared a knowing glance. 

“Keith, before we eat, your father and I just wanted to make sure you knew that if anyone or anything is ever bothering you at school or anywhere else you can always talk to us about it if you’re not sure what to do.”

“Yeah, champ,” Keith’s dad said, putting the biggest slice of the pie onto Keith’s plate, “your mom and I are always going to be here for you. Always” 

—————

“KEITH, SLOW DOWN”, 

“There’s a minimum speed on this highway, Lance, I can’t go under it.”

“We’re gonna die!”

“You’re not gonna die. Just shut up and trust me.”. Keith sighed, “Which way to your house now?”

“Turn left on Kings St. ,”

“Got it,” Lance yelped and Keith made a sharp turn left, 

“I said KINGS”

“This is a shortcut to Kings. I know the area.”

Despite Lance’s protests that not only were they going to die, but probably get lost as well, the pair ended up in front of Lance’s house about twenty minutes earlier than expected thanks to Keith’s shortcut. As soon as Keith pulled into the driveway, Lance jumped off the bike and raised his arms into the air, 

“I would like to thank the holy father above for delivering me safely from that death trap.”

“She’s not a death trap,”, Keith snapped, affectionately stroking his handlebars., “Go check on your sister, while I find somewhere to secure my bike. And, don’t forget, after you check on her, we’re going back to school to finish cleaning. I don’t want to have to stay again tomorrow.” 

“Lance? Is that you?”, a little girl with tan skin, blue eyes, and freckles peaked her head out the door. Lance bowed deeply, “Always for you, princess.”. The girl’s worried face broke into a smile as she ran towards them and jumped into Lance’s arms giggling. The girl, Sophie, Keith assumed, made eye contact with Keith over Lance’s shoulder, 

“Who are you?” she asked. Keith thought she was a little too young to have that much suspicion in her voice, 

“This is Keith,” Lance answered, “but I call him, Mullet. He drove me over here so I could check on you.”. 

“Oh!” Sophie said holding out a chubby, little hand, “I’m Sophie. Do you like tea parties?”

Keith blinked a few times, “Uhh, sure?”. 

“Great! I got one set up for me, Lance, and Mr. Fuzz, but now you can come too. When it’s just three people at the table it looks too empty.” Her smile fell a little bit, “I don’t like it when the house is empty. It reminds me of—“

“Keith doesn’t need to hear about that stuff, Sophie,” Lance rushed, “Besides, Keith has to go and find somewhere to tie up his bike.”

“He can just put it in the garage! Then you can both come to the tea party!” Lance looked at Keith pleadingly. Keith just shrugged, “It’d be nice if I could leave her somewhere safe.”. Lance’s shoulders slumped. “Fine, Mullet, I’ll show you to the garage. It’s right around the back.”

“Mee too!” Sophie chimed in, jumping out of Lance’s arms and running over to the back gate. She held it open until Keith had driven his bike through, 

“Is your bike a girl?”

“Huh?”

“You called it a ‘her’.”

“Oh, uh, yeah, I guess.”. Keith caught sight of Lance mouthing the words mimickingly after Keith had said them and rolled his eyes.

“Where did you get her?”, an oblivious Sophie continued, 

“I, uh, actually built her myself.” 

“Really? That’s cool!” 

“Thanks,” Keith said with a note of pride in his voice.  

“Sometimes I take apart my brother’s old lego sets and rebuild them.”

“That’s cool too.”

“I know!” Sophie exclaimed, as Keith pulled his bike into the garage. Sophie ran up creaking stairs to a wooden door and swung it open motioning for Keith to follow her inside.,

“You might as well come in. It looks like we might be here for a while,” Lance shrugged, “usually we have a no mullet policy in this house, but I guess we’re making an exception.”

“It’s not even a mullet,” Keith grumbled, stepping inside. The house was small, but cosy. The floors were wooden and the walls were a faded, eggshell white. There were numerous shelves decorated with photographs of a large family, all with the same blue eyes and brown hair. Pictures of Lance, Sophie, and three other children that Keith didn’t recognize at a variety of ages, at birthday parties, soccer games, swimming competitions, and a number of other events,

“Keiiith,” Sophie said, tugging on the bottom of Keith’s shirt, “do you wanna see my room?” 

“Uh…sure”. 

“No no, no no nope,” Lance yelled from outside where he was lowering the garage door, “Keith doesn’t need to see anything. We’re just gonna get him some tea and he’s gonna be on his way,”

“But I waaant him to see my drawings,”

“Sophie—“

“FINE,” Sophie yelled back. She turned back to Keith with a mischievous smile, identical to the one Keith had seen on Lance’s face after the mashed—potato—incident. She held a finger up to her lips and pointed to a hallway leading right, “my room is over there,”. She let go of Keith’s shirt and gestured for him to follow her down the hall. Keith glanced back at where Lance was wrestling with the garage door, trying to force it shut. “Pssssssstttt,” Sophie called, turning back to him, “come this way.” Keith sighed and decided to follow. In general, he wasn’t really a big fan of children. They were loud, annoying, and self-obsessed. He thought back to Lance, and admitted that there were definitely a couple adults who never really grew out of that phase. 

“You walk slow,” Sophie whined turning back to Keith,

“This is how I walk,”

“It’s sloooowwwwwwww,”. Keith flinched as she grabbed his by the hand, but Sophie didn’t seem to notice. “I’ll show you how to go fast!”, she said, as she started to sprint down the hall to her room. “See,” Sophie said, panting, “you can go fast too!”, she stopped running, “So we can go slow again now, not because I need to, but because you like slow, right?”. She stumbled a little bit and leaned on Keith for support. Keith’s brow furrowed, noting how Sophie had gone from lively and excited to sickly and pale in a matter of seconds. 

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she said, white knuckles clenching Keith’s shirt desperately, “Will you carry me?” 

“Uhh…okay,” Keith said, “is your room this way?”. Sophie nodded, holding her arms up. Keith tried to hold her the way he saw Lance holding her earlier. Whatever it did, it must have been good enough. He heard Sophie’s breathing become more constant and steady as the reached the end of the hallway. Sophie pointed, “This one is mine. You can put me down now,”. Sophie opened the door and the two of them walked inside. 

Most of the space in the room was taken up by two beds. Sophie walked over to the one on the left—hand side of the room. It was covered in in bright pink flower bedsheets. The wall besides it was covered with a dozen or so of what Keith inferred were Sophie’s drawings. Sophie reached into the top drawer of hand—painted lilac dresser beside her bed and pulled out an asthma inhaler. She took a few quick puffs and Keith made a mental note not to encourage any running from her in the future,

“Do you wanna see my drawings now?” Sophie said smiling, the shadow that had come over her face in the corridor disappeared as the incident was completely forgotten. She climbed off her bed and pulled Keith over to the wall besides it where the drawings hung, 

“These are my bestest drawings,” she said pointing to the collage. “This one is me in Narnia, this one is the cookies that my abuela makes when she comes over, they’re chocolate chip, this one is me at the pool, and this is my family at the park.” The drawings were all done in crayon, and the people all stick figures, but Keith thought that all in all, they were pretty good for a five—year—old. Sophie turned away from the wall and reached into the second drawer of the dresser, pulling out a thick stack of more drawings, “These are my other ones. They’re not as good as the wall ones, but I think they’re still nice,”. She held out the pile to Keith, who began to sift through them. 

“These are really cool, Sophie.”, He said as Sophie beamed, 

“You really think so? I think so, but my sister says that they’re dumb. This one is my sister,” she said, flipping through the drawings until reaching another family picture. Sophie’s portrait depicted a frowning girl with her arms crossed, the words “bla bla my boyfriend bla bla” were coming out of her mouth in a speech bubble, “Lance said he thought this one way funny because it’s true,” she giggled. “I’m making all of the drawings for my other sister, Camille, when she comes home from school. She goes to school in New York. She’s super smart. When she comes home she shares this room with me and Amanda,” she said gesturing to what must have been Amanda’s bed. Amanda’s bed, unlike Sophie’s had dark blue bedsheets. There were no posters or drawings on the wall, instead the dresser had a singular photo of an older girl, about 16 or 17, Keith guessed, holding hands with that person that Keith guessed was the boyfriend mentioned in Sophie’s drawing, 

“I like it when Camille comes home to visit because Amanda never talks to me. She says that I’m annoying,”. Sophie continued, looking down at her drawing, her bottom lip pouting.

“I don’t think you’re annoying,” Keith added. Sophie looked back up and smiled again, “Thanks!”, she paused thinking to herself, “maybe you can stay here until Camille gets back.”

“Oh…uh…actually…”

“WHAT do you think you’re doing in here?”, Lance fumed from the doorway, “I told you not to bring him in here!”

“What’s the big deal I just wanted to show him my—,”

“Just get out now!” Lance yelled. Keith glanced over at Sophie, whose smile was gone again, and felt anger stirring in his stomach.

“Don’t get mad at her, she didn’t do anything.”, he said walking over to Lance

“I wasn’t talking to her.” Lance glowered at Keith, “I want you to get out of my house.”

“You want me to get out? Fine.”, Keith said shoving Lance a little, “You hate me? I don’t care. But your sister didn’t do anything. She just wanted to show me her drawings. So, chill.”

“For your information, I’m always chill,” said Lance, shoving back,

“STOP IT!”, Sophie yelled before whimpering, “I don’t like this.”. Both Lance and Keith stopped glaring at each other and turned to the five-year-old with the quivering bottom lip. 

“It’s okay, Sophie, I promise. We’re not even mad!”, Lance started to babble, putting at arm around Keith’s shoulder, “Look we were just playing! It’s like a game. Right, Mullet,” 

“What?”

“I said,  _ Right, Mullet?” _ , Lance looked at Sophie and back to Keith, 

“Uh… yeah”, said Keith catching on, “Yeah we’re just playing a game, buddy.

“What’s is called,” Sophie asked imploringly,

“It’s called pretend to…to…”, Lance shot another look at Keith, 

“To be a bank robber?” Keith suggested, earning a face palm from Lance. 

“Yeah,” said Lance, palm still on his face, “it’s called Pretend to be a Bank Robber. Because that’s definitely a real game that sounds like something that a couple of normal teenagers would say,”

“I’m sorry I don’t play games,”, Keith hissed under his breath,

“Really? I never would have guessed.”

“You guys are funny together,” Sophie giggled, “Can we go play tea party now.”

“Sure, sweetie,” Lance said, lifting Sophie into his arms, “but I don’t think Keith can stay. It’s getting late and he really needs to go home now,” Lance said, his eyes narrowing just enough for Keith to get the message that he wasn’t welcome here. Not like he hadn’t known before. 

“Your brother is right Sophie. I have to get back to school and clean up some stuff, but I had a lot of fun today,”. Sophie’s face fell again, 

“Are you sure you have to go?”

“Yeah,” 

“Pleaassseee?”, Sophie begged with puppy dog eyes. Keith felt a pang of guilt in his stomach for leaving, 

“Well,” he started before catching Lance shaking his head, over Sophie’s shoulder, “yeah I’m sort of sure. I—I’ll miss you though, Sophie.”, he finished figuring that he’d rather not make Lance any more irritated that he already had.,

“Okay, but you’ll come back and visit though right?” 

“Sure, Sophie. I’ll visit soon.”. Keith lied. He would have liked to stay if he could have, but he didn’t want to do any more of whatever he had done to make Lance so angry. Sophie jumped out of Lance’s arms and ran over wrap her arms around to Keith’s waist. Keith, surprised, stumbled back a few steps, before leaning down to hug her back. 

“Bye, Keith, it was fun meeting you.”

“It was fun meeting you too, Sophie.”. Keith peeled himself out of her grip and turned around, “I can find my own way out. I remember how to get back.”

“Wait—“, Lance said, sighing, rubbing the back of his neck, “Can I talk to you outside for a second.”

“Sure”, Keith said and with one final wave of goodbye to Sophie, he followed Lance into the hallway. 

————

Lance was the first one to admit that he was extremely protective his family, but there was no one that he tried to look after more than Sophie. Out of all of his siblings, Sophie was the happiest, the liveliest, and the most delicate. Born premature, her health had always been fragile. When Sophie turned four, their mother, equally as protective as Lance, and a team of doctors had determined that Sophie’s health was too fragile for her to be able to go to school, that she would never be able to keep up with the other kids her age. Maybe with a diagnosis, she would have a chance at a normal life, but so far, there had been nothing. 

Their family had poured every penny they had into trying to get Sophie the treatment that she needed, but so far, it hadn’t been enough. Last year, Lance’s dad decided it was all too much. He couldn’t handle the responsibility that came with having a handicapped daughter, a daughter who had spent three months hooked up to an IV because she couldn’t eat anything, a daughter who was just trying her best to get through life one day at a time. When he left, Lance tried his best to take over the role of ‘family man’. He took two years off of school, working three jobs, trying to make up the difference between their medical debt and the ever—dwindling sum of money left in their family’s bank account.  The decision to go to college was one of the hardest he had ever made. With school, he had less time to work, less time to spend with his family, but a better chance to land a better paying job in the future. 

The balancing act he was pulling became that much more difficult when Keith had come into his life. His interactions with the arrogant, hot—headed, idiot had gotten him into detention twice already. The last thing he needed was for Keith and the trouble that had come along with him to get anywhere near his family, especially Sophie. The last thing Sophie needed was to get attached to someone who saw emotions as a plague. The last thing that his family needed was to have some hot—head see their house and tell everyone how poor they were. But seeing Keith interact with Sophie, seeing her happy, made Lance question his view on Keith. 

Up until this point, Lance thought that he knew Keith, the arrogant, rude, smartass who couldn’t be bothered to care about anyone but himself. But now, he saw Keith the arrogant, smart—ass who complimented Sophie’s drawings. Keith the rude, emo—kid who didn’t make any comments about the state of their house or the fact that Sophie shared her room with two other girls. And Keith, the selfish loner stroking Sophie’s hair and holding her, saying he would miss her, making her happy. That jerk.

“Listen, man,” Lance said after he and Keith were out of Sophie’s range of hearing, “you know that I’m not crazy about having you around—,”

“It’s mutual,”, Keith snapped. Lance almost had to do a double take. As quickly as the caring, compassionate Keith had come, he was gone, replaced by Mr. Emo-Mullet man, “—but,” he continued, “Sophie seems to have gotten sort of attached to you and… I care about her,”. Lance paused, thinking about how to phrase what he wanted to say, “She doesn’t have a whole lot of… new friends coming into her life and… well I think it would mean a lot to her if you could stay for her tea party,”

“I thought you wanted me out of your house,”

“I do! Trust me, the less time I have to spend with you, Mullet, the better. But still…”, Lance thought back to Sophie’s smile and looked back at Keith’s frown, “I have to stay until the tea party anyway and you’re sort of my ride back to the cafeteria, so it doesn’t even make sense for me to let you leave before then.”

“Let me leave? I wasn’t aware that I needed your _ permission _ to do anything,” Keith quipped sarcastically,

“Do you wanna stay or the tea party or not, Mullet?”. Keith paused, 

“Does Sophie really want me there?”,  he asked seeming unsure,

“Uh, duh. She’s five,” Lance rolled his eyes “She has no alterior motive for inviting you. She probably doesn’t even know what the word ‘motive’ means.”

“Oh,”. Keith paused, glancing around, “well then, yeah, I’ll stay. If you’re sure she wants me to, that is”. 

“Sounds like we’re all having a teaaaa parrtyyy,” Sophie said, peeking her head around the corner where she had been hiding, “C’mon! I have everything all set up already,” she took one of each of the boys’ hands in her own, “I made it in the boys’ room!”

Sophie’s tea party set up was definitely the result of a child with too much free time and no supervision. Lance’s eyes nearly fell out of his head when he walked into his room, which Sophie had converted into her dream tea room. His floor was covered in ripped up pieces of paper, which had been hastily covered with bright pink highlighter, a sort of make—shift confetti. On the walls, the words, “Sophie’s Tea Party” were written on the walls in white—out. The only thing in the house Sophie could write with that would have shown brightly against the dark blue paint which covered Lance’s half of the room. The other half of the room, Michael’s half, was painted a medium green. 

The room’s paint had been chosen five years ago when they determined that they would never be able to agree on just one color. Michael, Lance’s only brother, was fourteen, and already working two jobs to help out with the family. The two boys had butt heads a lot when they were younger, but since Sophie’s health had declined, the two had grown close. They weren’t the kind of brothers that shared every aspect of their day with each other or hugged, but a more comfortable kind of close based in the knowledge that they were both doing everything they could to help out and would always be there if the other needed help. 

Even then, Michael and Lance hadn’t talked much since Lance decided to go to college. Lance wasn’t sure if Michael had fully forgiven him yet for the lost income that resulted from Lance’s hours being cut down. Since Lance normally finished school around the time that Michael started work and Lance started work when Michael got home from his job, the two rarely even saw each other. Lance made a mental note to call Michael and make sure everything was still okay between the two of them, when he got a chance.

“Keith, you can sit here next to me,” Sophie said pulling Keith down to sit with her, “and, Lance, you can sit there, between Keith and Mr. Whiskers. Lance nodded to Mr. Fuzz, Sophie’s stuffed rabbit, who was propped up with a stack of books to make it look like he was sitting. There were four plastic tea cups set up in a circle, one for each of them, with a plastic tea pot in the middle. 

Sophie beamed up at Keith, “Do you like it? I set it up all by myself!”. 

“I love it,” Keith said. Lance raised an eyebrow at Keith who was now smiling warmly at as she wrapped her arm around his and told him about the tea set, 

“This is my favorite tea pot. Camille got it for me for my birthday. She said that she got it from a wizard who put a spell on it so that every time you drink tea from it, you get healthier.”, Sophie paused and frowned, “I couldn’t put any tea in it though, I’m not allowed to go in the kitchen by myself,”, she put a hand over her stomach, “and I’m still hungry.”.

Keith smiled again, “well let’s make some tea and get you a snack then,”. He looked over at Lance for approval, “we can do that, right?”. Lance sighed. So much for having Keith stay for a couple minutes for the tea party and leaving,

“Yeah, okay. Let’s go make some tea,”. Sophie jumped up and did a little twirl before starting to run out of the room, 

“Sophie, no running!” Lance yelled, grabbing her arm and picking her up to carry her out of the room,

“Let me go,”, Sophie whined, “I can do it myself,”. 

“No, Sophie,” Lance whispered, begging Sophie not to make a scene in front of a, once again, irritated looking Keith who was opening his mouth to speak, 

“I don’t think she wants to be carried right now,” Keith said, walking over to the two of them. Lance groaned internally as Sophie made a noise of agreement, 

“No offense, Mullet, but this isn’t your family. Sophie isn’t allowed to run around the house. She knows that. I’m just being careful.” 

“I think she’s capable of walking, if she needs to.”

“You don’t know what she’s capable of. I’m her brother. I need to keep her safe. That means no taking chances,” Lance stared into Keiths face, daring Keith to challenge him. To his surprise, Keith’s gaze softened a little bit as he looked at Sophie, who was still squirming in Lance’s arms. 

“You’re right,” Keith shrugged, “lead the way.”

“But Keeeeiiitth, Laaaaaannceee,” Sophie pleaded as a semi—stunned Lance carried her out of the room, Keith trailing behind them. Lance glanced back to Keith who seemed to be trying (and failing) to avoid looking into Sophie’s puppy—dog—eyes. Geez, what was this guy’s deal, anyway? Lance decided that he’d have to ask Pidge about that ‘stuff’ they had mentioned when talking about Keith earlier. Maybe that would explain how and why literal embodiment of human jerk—ness was unable to look into Sophie’s puppy—dog—eyes without caving. 

“Here we go,” Lance said, placing Sophie in her highchair, “now, what can I get you, sweetie?” 

“Cookie dough?”

“Sure,” Lance said opening the fridge and pulling out a small Tupperware labeled “Sophie’s”. He handed it to Sophie with a small spoon, “remember, only eat until you start to feel full. Don’t stuff yourself,” Lance said ruffling Sophie’s hair, “I’m going to go boil some water for the tea.”

“I’ll come too,” Keith demanded, following Lance into the kitchen,

“It’s really not a two—person job, Mullet, I think I can handle boiling water alone,”. Despite Lance’s dismissal, Keith followed him into the kitchen anyway. 

 

————

“Why can’t Sophie run?” Keith said, once they were out of earshot. 

“It’s against the rules in our house,” said Lance, his back turned to Keith, 

“I know you’re lying,” Keith pushed, “I saw her try to run earlier, she almost collapsed, what was that?” 

“She tried to WHAT?” Lance turned around, his face betraying the panic he had been trying to hide earlier. Keith gestured for more of an explanation. Lance sighed, 

“Why do you care anyways? You don’t know me. You don’t know her. You don’t know anything about any of this and all you need to know is that none of this concerns you, okay?” Lance bit the words out one by one, but Keith wasn’t ready to give up yet. Sophie was a good kid, a great one even. She was nice. Keith was well aware of the fact that he didn’t know her that well. He knew that he didn’t know anything about Lance’s family life. He also knew that he probably wasn’t going to like the answer to the question he was about to ask, but he couldn’t, he just couldn’t get attached to another person the way he felt himself getting attached to Sophie with her puppy—dog—eyes and contagious smile and—  

“She’s sick. Isn’t she?”. Keith saw Lance tense up and turn away from Keith to stare intently at the bubbling water,

“I already told you. It’s none of your business, Mullet,”. Keith saw Lance’s hands clench into fists, all traces of his usual humor or swagger or whatever it was that made Lance so  _ Lance  _ gone completely. 

“My parents are dead,”. Keith said, flinching as the words came out of his mouth. 

“That’s not funny, Mullet.”

“ITS NOT A JOKE,” Keith yelled in spite of himself as Lance jumped. “It’s not a joke,” he repeated again softly shaking his head, “I’m sorry I just— I need to know if Sophie is… if she’s…” his voice cracked as he trailed off. What a fucking loser he was, getting teary eyed about some dumb kid he didn’t even know. In front of Lance of all people.  

He clenched his hands into fists as he tried to choke back the tears that were forming in his eyes. Sophie was probably fine. Everything was probably fine in this household before Keith came into it with all of his baggage. Now, he was doing what? Projecting his shit onto some five—year—old girl who just wanted a friend? How fucked up was that? Crying because why? Because he couldn’t get over that stupid car crash? He felt himself start to laugh as felt the first tear trickle down his face. He half thought that he only started laughing because of how stupid Lance looked with that stunned impression on his face.  _ At least I finally got that idiot to shut up.  _

 

————

“My parents are dead,”.  _ Liar _ , Lance thought to himself. And to think that people called Lance attention seeking when people like Keith existed. Did The Mullet seriously think that he was dumb enough to tell him everything about his family because of a lie that obvious. What kind of sick person lied about that kind of thing anyway, 

“That’s not funny, Mullet.”

“IT’S NOT A JOKE”, Lance jumped as Keith yelled the words at him. He turned around to see Keith blinking back tears, his hands balled up into fists so hard that Lance thought they might start bleeding, “I’m sorry I just— I need to know if Sophie is… if she’s…”  _ dying.  _ Lance’s mind filled in the word for him. The word that Keith couldn’t say. Lance didn’t know what to do when he saw that first tear fall down Keith’s face.  _ His parents are dead _ . Lance felt like an idiot. No wonder Keith hated everything. No wonder he treated the word ‘friend’ like a dirty word. No wonder he latched onto cheerful, little Sophie, who was always treating everyone she met like a part of the family.  _ Family.,  _ Lance thought with a pang, looking at Keith who was laughing, almost hysterically between his tears. 

“Hey, man,” Lance said, walking over to Keith, “everything is going to be okay.”

“Of course,” Keith laughed aggressively through his tears, “Everything is fine. Everything is great,”. Keith began repeating those words over and over again to himself as he started to laugh harder and more and more tears made their way down his face. Lance thought back to himself. If he and Keith were more alike than they were different, then maybe Lance could calm him down.

“Hey, Keith, listen,” Lance said putting a hand around Keith’s shoulders and leading him to the kitchen wall, “here I want you to sit down here and put your head in your hands for a little bit, okay? Just let yourself relax and breathe. No not like that, that’s hyperventilating, but you’re doing great,” Lance placed a hand on Keith’s back, and tried his best to sound comforting, “Just breathe in and out, okay? Breathe with me. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale,”. The two boys sat together for a while, Lance coaching Keith how to come back to himself, Keith slowly recovering, 

“Thanks,” Keith whispered hoarsely, when he his breathing had stabilized a little more, 

“Don’t mention it, “. A relieved Lance replied, helping Keith to his feet, 

“Umm…. Sorry about all of that,” Keith mumbled, “I guess I should probably go now, huh?”   
“What?”

“Well, now you know that I’m like a fucking psycho or whatever,”

“What are you talking abou—“

“It’s okay,” Keith bit his bottom lip, “I’ll show myself out. Just, don’t tell anyone about this,”

“You’re not going anywhere, Keith,”. Lance said, placing a hand on Keith’s shoulder, “we haven’t finished our tea party, remember? We agreed that you wouldn’t leave until after it was done.”.

“You mean, you don’t want me to leave? Even after that?”. Keith asked, looking up at Lance,

“Nah, don’t worry about it,” Lance shrugged, “besides, like I said, you’re my ride back,”. 

“Oh. Okay,” Keith said, the trace of a smile visible on his pale face, “uh, thanks, bro,”

“No problem, Keith,”

“Keith?”

“What?”

“You called me Keith?”

“That’s your name, isn’t it?

“Yeah, it’s just that usually you just call me Mullet,”

“I thought you didn’t want me to call you Mullet,”

“I don’t,”

“So, what’s the problem,  _ Keeeeeith _ ?”

“There is no problem, and don’t say it like that!”

“Don’t tell me what to do,  _ Keeeeeeiiiiiittthh” _

__ “Erg, you are so—“

“So what?”

“I dunno, you’re just so  _ Lance,” _

__ “What does that even mean?”

“It just means what it means, okay?!” Keith exclaimed, his face bright red. Lance’s face softened, 

“She’s going to be fine,”

“What?”, Keith asked, the red leaving his cheeks, 

“Sophie. She’s sick, but it’s not that serious,” Lance paused, he had never shared anything about Sophie’s condition to anyone outside the family before, let alone to someone like Keith, but he decided to go on, “to be honest, there were a couple of times last year when we thought that… we just weren’t sure and… things were hard, but she’s doing a lot better now,” Lance began to babble before he could stop himself, “during that time last year my family was under a lot of stress, I mean, you can imagine, I mean you don’t have to imagine obviously, because of your parents. Sorry, didn’t mean to bring that up again, it’s just that I get how hard it can be to have that support gone and have to do all that stuff for yourself, I mean obviously it’s not exactly the same because my parents are still alive, sorry, why did I say it like that? What I meant to say is that last year my dad sort of left and our family sort of fell apart I guess, but things are starting to get better now, which is nice, but I’m a little worried that things won’t even really be the same,” Lance stopped, with his mouth hanging open like a fish, almost not believing the words that had just come out of his mouth. He looked cautiously at Keith, whose facial expression hadn’t changed at all throughout the entirety of Lance’s outburst.

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

“What?”, Lance asked, surprised. He wasn’t sure exactly what he had expected Keith to say, it wasn’t that, 

“Yeah, I—“

“What’s taking so long?” Sophie yelled from her high chair, 

“Nothing,” the two boys yelled back at once. Only then did Lance notice how close he had been standing to Keith and jumped back to the stove, where the water was boiling, hoping that Keith didn’t notice the rising color in his cheeks,

“Hey, Mullet,” 

“Yeah, Lance?”

“Thanks for listening. It was nice to talk about that stuff to someone,”

“Yeah, I feel the same way,”. 

————

“And I dunno, then we went back and had our tea party and it was fun and then Lance’s sister came home,”

“I thought Lance’s sister was the one you were having the tea party with—” Shiro interrupted, 

“No, I mean, yeah. He has two sisters, well he has three, but only two are relevant to this part of the story. So anyway, the older of the two sisters came home, which meant that she could watch Sophie—”

“—And Sophie is the younger sister?”

“Yeah, she’s the youngest, but just let me finish my story, Shiro,”

“Sorry,”

“It’s fine. But, anyway, that meant that we could go back to the cafeteria and finish cleaning so we did and we just kept talking about stuff. Like all kinds of stuff? Apparently, Lance wasn’t at all kidding about the Taylor Swift thing. Seriously, I quizzed him. And he tried to make fun of me because he said all the music that I liked was ‘emo’, but then I showed him All Time Low and he said that he really liked it and we actually ended up finishing cleaning up the cafeteria a little bit early and and I asked if he wanted me to drive him home, but he said he wanted us to just hang out and talk more? So we did and we got chips from the vending machine, and the chips were like 100% stale, but he didn’t even care, and then after we talked some more, I drove him back to his house and I met his mom and I said hi to Sophie again and then I came here because I needed to talk to someone about it my feelings, which makes me almost feel like I’m turning into Lance, not like that would be the worst thing, I mean he’s still kind of annoying, but not really, I just don’t know what I feel I DON’T KNOW, SHIRO,” Keith finished his monologue grabbing Shiro by the shoulders and shaking him roughly back and forth while Shiro laughed, 

“Sounds like you made a new friend today, Keith, I’m proud of you,”

“Gee, thanks, dad, you know how badly I crave your approval,”

“Wow, I think Lance’s sass might be rubbing off on you,”

“Ugh, don’t say that.” Keith said flopping onto Shiro’s couch, “We only spent like five hours together. There’s no way I was affected that much,”. 

“Oh, I dunno,” Shiro said, raising an eyebrow, “sounds like you were pretty affected,”

“We are changing the subject now!”. Keith said in a way that he hoped would shut down any attempt to converse about Lance and any potential affect he had on Keith, “Who’s the girl you were talking to in the cafeteria?”

“What girl?” said Shiro, nonchalantly. Keith knew Shiro well enough to know when he was trying to play something cool, 

“Oh, you know,” said Keith matching Shiro’s relaxted tone, “the pretty one with the silver hair, blue eyes, ring any bells?”

“Oh, her?”, said Shiro, the pink in his cheeks counteracting his ability to play things cool, “That’s just Allura. She works in psychosocial. She’s, umm, a very nice young woman,”

“A very nice young woman?”, Keith laughed, “Are you 82 or 28?”

“Shut up,” Shiro said, his blush growing, 

“You know what, you’re right. I don’t even think 82 year olds talk like that,”

“She’s just a friend. I have a couple of kids that she’s working with in my class, so she set up a meeting for the two of us at that coffee shop near school to talk about them. It turns out that we had a couple of things in common besides just the students, so we started talking a little bit more, but she really is just a friend,”

“Yeah, a really hot friend,”

“ _ Keith, please” _

“Just admit to me that you like her,”

“Why would I do that?”

“Because she’s pretty and you deserve nice things,”

“Wow this Lance boy really did a number on you,”. Keith was about to fire back when he heard a  _ beep beep  _ coming from his phone.

(21:17) have u ever had it

(21:17) when u thought someone was rly gross

(21:17) but it turns out

(21:17) their like not gross

(21:17) and so ur kinda just like

(21:17) oh ur not gross???

_ (21:17) it’s they’re not their _

__ _ (21:18) and maybe _

“Who’s that?” Shiro asked, peeking over Keith’s shoulder,

“Just some person who texted me with a wrong number the other day,” 

“You’re talking to a stranger?”

“Not really. They just sort of text me sometimes,” Keith shrugged, “I actually hadn’t heard from them in a couple of days. I figured they’d given up,”

(21:19) what if they’re the opposite of gross

(21:19) oh my gosh 

_ (21:20) ? _

__ (21:20) how do u know if u like someone???

_ (21:20) you’re definitely twelve, aren’t you? _

(21:21) plsss help me

(21:21) my other friends will make fun of me if i tell them

(21:22) help me phone man

_ (21:22) picture me rolling my eyes _

__ (21:22) nooooo

(21:22) dont abandon me in my time of need phone man

“Awww, you made two friends in one week,” Shiro said ruffling Keith’s hair, ignoring Keith’s protests as he did, “I’m so proud,”

“This phone person isn’t my friend, Shiro,” Keith protested, 

“No, look right there,” Shiro pointed, “they said my ‘other’ friends, meaning, you’re one of their friends, at least,”

“We’re not friends. I don’t even know who they are” Keith said, putting his phone on the counter, safely out of Shiro’s reach,

“Putting away your phone on your friend is very rude, Keith,”

“They’re not even my friend,”

“What if Lance decided to text you and your phone is off?”

“I don’t even know Lance’s number and besides why would I care? Lance and I aren’t even official friends, or anything either,”

“Official friends?” Shiro laughed, “What?”

“Does Allura ever text you?”, Keith fired back, changing the subject,

“Sometimes, but only when she needs stuff,”

“You mean when she needs an excuse to talk to you?”

“No, really, just when she needs work stuff,”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes!,” Shiro said raising an eyebrow, “And since when are you ‘Mr. Positive’?”

“Since I felt like it,”

“Or maybe it’s since a certain blue-eyed runner—”

“Stop changing the subject,”

“You’re the one changing the subject,”

“Shut up,”, 

“You shut up,”. Shiro sighed, “What are we going to do about all of this, Keith.”

“Well I don’t see anything that needs to have things done about it in my life,” Keith shrugged, as Shiro scoffed, “But yeah, it does sound like you’ve got some real problems to work through, budd—mphgr,”. Keith’s voice was muffled as Shiro affectionately whacked him in the face with a throw pillow.  _ Beep beep _ . Keith pushed the pillow off of his face and glanced over at his phone. 

(21:25) Ohmygosk i think i have a crush 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you like the beginning of the romance! Thanks for reading!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which all the idiots are in love :)

The morning shift at work the next day was brutal. Lance hadn’t been able to sleep all night because he kept thinking about stupid Keith and his stupid mullet and his stupid smile and his dumb, stupid, emo, face. The coffee helped, but not enough to stop him from spilling not one, not two, but three cups of ice coffee all over himself, as well as one onto his manager of all people, who had yelled at him for a full fifteen minutes in front of everyone, including the customers, before heading home to get a change of clothes. 

Not only that, but the manager heading home meant that Lance was severely understaffed for the rest of the shift. The only other person working with him had only started a week ago and didn’t know how to do anything except work the register, which meant that Lance was making all of the drinks and food on his own.  _ Shit,  _ he thought to himself as he realized that his sleep deprived brain had made two turkey sandwiches on rye and one pastrami sandwich on wheat instead of one turkey on wheat, one turkey on rye, and a pastrami on rye, 

“What’s taking so long on those sandwiches, Lance?”

“Just a second,” Lance said, scrambling to drop more breads and slice more tomatoes. Normally he’d go out and apologize to the customers for the delay, but seeing as he still had about six sandwiches, two lattes, one mocha, and a blended chai to make, he figured they’d have to wait. Nearly another hour passed like that, with Lance in his own personal hell before Pidge and Hunk arrived to get their morning coffee,

“Help. Please.”, Lance gasped at them holding the blender shut with his right hand, while trying to cut an avocado with his left. Together, they were able to clear out all of the orders while sedating a number of irate customers,

“Whew,” said Lance, removing his apron after the end of the shift, “Thanks I owe you guys one,”

“No problem, Lance,”, Hunk smiled, 

“Yeah, but don’t kid yourself. You owe us like twenty.”, Pidge chimed in, 

“Very true,”, Lance said, ruffling Pidge’s hair, much to their annoyance, “ready to head to school?”

Lance usually used the walk to school to destress from his hectic morning while nursing his signature iced, double shot, caramel, breve with an extra splash of vanilla. But walking with Hunk and Pidge, it was unlikely he would get anything that even remotely resembled peace,

“So who’s that iced coffee for?”, Pidge asked,

“What iced coffee?”, Pidge stared blankly at Lance, 

“The one that you’re holding in your other hand,”

“Which hand? This hand? This is just my usual,”

“No, this hand is your usual. That hand has an iced coffee,”

“Nah,”

“I  _ saw  _ you pour iced coffee into that cup,”

“You know, I read that sleep deprivation is one of many things that can cause hallucinations. I’m clearly only carrying one cup,”

“ _ YOU  _ can  _ READ? _ ??”

“Ha. Ha. Ha. Very. Funny.”,

“Thanks, I try, but really, who’s the coffee for?”,

“I don’t know what you’re—,”

“Lance McClain, if you don’t answer my question, I will smack both of those coffees out of your hand before you can even blink,”.  

“You wouldn’t dare,”

“Try me, Lance,” Pidge challenged. Lance looked into their eyes and realized they were dead serious, 

“It’s just for a friend,”

“You made a new friend?”, Hunk chimed in,

“Yeah, well sort of, I mean, I think so...,” Lance trailed off, eying the look on Pidge’s face, the knowing expression on their face making him very worried for the conversation that was about to ensue, 

“Does this  _ friend  _ happen to be a certain angry Korean with a mullet that you hate?”, 

“I never said I hated him!”, Lance exclaimed, before flushing red, “He just helped me out a little the other day while we were in detention and I owe him one so I got coffee it’s not like its a big deal I mean it was free anyway,” He rushed, backpedaling,

“Riiiiight,” Pidge said drawing out the words, while Lance’s face turned an even brighter shade of red than it had been before, 

“That’s great, Lance!”, Hunk chirped, oblivious to the moment that had taken place between Pidge and Lance, “I’m glad you and Keith are getting along now, it’ll make your life a lot easier. And, not to say I told you so, but I did tell you that apologizing to him would make everything okay, I’m just saying,”

“Actually, I didn’t apologize to him for that yet,” Lance said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck, “that’s sort of what the coffee is going to be for, hopefully it’s good enough,”, 

“Oh, well if you didn’t apologize to him, what did you guys talk about anyway?”

“Nothing! I mean, nothing important, we just had some time to kill and talked about, just you know, stuff, it was nothing though. I SAID NOTHING, PIDGE,”. Lance yelled at a Pidge who was now almost doubled-over cackling as Lance’s blush escaladed to a shade of red that should have been impossible on a human being. Hunk looked thoughtfully at Lance, who was now trying to convince Pidge of…well something. To be honest, Hunk didn’t really understand what. He was a little bit suspicious, though. It wasn’t like Lance to be shy about the events of his day, or the people he encountered during it. Just yesterday, he had complained about Keith for almost half an hour, the same Keith that he wouldn’t say a word about now. That was why Hunk knew that _ something  _ fishy was going on,

“I don’t have to explain ANYTHING to you, Gremlin,” Lance exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air, “I just came out here to have a good time and honestly I’m feeling so attacked right now,” Lance began to speed up his walking, so as to get to get away from a still snickering Pidge, “I’m walking away now! Walking far FAR away from BOTH of you TRAITORS!”

“What did I do,” Hunk whined, “I don’t even know what’s going on,”

“You’re right, Hunk, you deserve better, sorry!”, Lance called back to them, speeding up his power walk, trying to put as much distance as possible between himself and Pidge’s prying questions. 

As Lance pushed ahead, Hunk turned to Pidge, who was brushing away a tear from their eye, “Oh, nothing,” they said, adjusting their glasses, “I’m sure everything will c—come out fine,”. They were barely able to choke out the words through their laughter.

Lance, to his own surprise, actually made it to school early. It seemed that his power walking had counteracted his chronic lateness. His first class was public speaking, same as every day. He walked up to the classroom and paused at the door. He pulled out his phone and did a quick hair check, then tried his best to pat down a couple of stray strands, while holding coffees in both of his hands, before heading into cla—

“What are you doing?”, 

“KEITH,” Lance jumped, startled. When he jumped, he felt the iced coffee he had been holding slip from his grasp and start to fall. He shut his eyes and yelped, waiting to feel the coffee spill all over him, but instead he just felt a hand brush against his stomach. He opened his eyes to find that Keith had, ninja reflexes and all, caught the coffee midair, tangling himself with Lance in the process, 

“I…uh…caught your coffee,” Keith said,

“Thanks,” said Lance turning to Keith. They were close enough that Lance could feel Keith’s breathing. He wasn’t sure if it was a trick of the light that created the flecks of violet that Lance saw in Keith’s grey eyes, or if they were natural. Lance was just noting how they made Keith’s eyes looks like the night sky, when Keith jerked back suddenly, almost spilling the coffee all over Lance again. 

“I was wondering when you were gonna get your dumb, scratchy, mullet out of my face, anyway, Keith!”, Lance said, trying to distract from the fact that he had been staring. He hoped Keith hadn’t noticed, 

“It’s not a mullet!” Keith exclaimed, “And you should probably be thanking me considering I just saved your dumb coffee,”, he said, shoving the coffee back at Lance, “I probably should have just let it spill on you, then at least you would know how it feels to have to go through your day with a giant coffee stain on your shirt,”. 

“Pleeeaaase, I could make that coffee stain look good,”

“The only thing that looks good on you in a paper bag,”

“Look who’s talking, Mullet!”. From the outside, it might have looked like the two ‘rivals’ were having an argument, but up close it was clear that they were both smiling. Any bite their words had held the day before was gone, replaced with playful smirks (mostly from Keith) and pouting (mostly from Lance), “But speaking of payback, I actually got this for you, you know, to thank you for helping me with Sophie and stuff,”. 

“Really?”

“Yeah, I owe you one, buddy,” Lance said, pushing the coffee back towards Keith, “I hope you like it plain. If you don’t you can always take some of mine, it’s a little sweeter. I got it from work so it’s really not a big deal if you don’t like it,” but Keith was already drinking. He held a thumb up to Lance, his mouth still wrapped around the straw, inhaling the coffee like it was air. He downed the entire thing in a matter of seconds, before throwing the cup away with a satisfied sigh, 

“Thanks, that was nice,”

“No problem,” said Lance, wondering with an eyebrow raised just how much Keith could sleep every night to feel comfortable drinking that much coffee.

“Should we head in?”

“Probably,”. The two boys made their way to the table in the back, settled into their seats and sat for a while in silence, while the lesson began.  

——--——

 

The lesson was boring as hell. Keith wasn’t the kind of student who usually got bored in his classes. He liked school and he was pretty good at it, but this class was just dumb. Not only that, but he kept getting distracted by Lance rocking on his chair next to him. He glanced over at Lance, who had thrown his head back in a yawn and noticed the smattering of freckles across his tan skin that were only visible up close, the way his lips naturally pouted when he wasn’t thinking about anything, the way Lance twiddled his narrow fingers to distract himself from the lesson. The guy wasn’t even taking notes. Keith smiled to himself, of course he wasn’t. Keith should have figured that Lance wasn’t the kind of guy who would take notes on a boring lecture, Keith noted as he watched Lance delicately tear a page out of his spiral notebook and begin folding it. Keith liked the way that Lance scrunched up his face in concentration as he tried to made what Keith thought was probably going to be paper airplane. He looked at the way that Lance’s eyebrows furrowed, as started to chew on his bottom lip and—  _ Can we not?  _ Keith mentally begged his brain to stop and cursed his genetics for giving him such pale skin. If Lance looked over right now, there was no way he wouldn’t be able to see the blush spreading across Keith’s cheeks. 

_ Just think about something else.  _ Lanced yawned again and took another sip of his coffee. He was probably addicted to coffee, since he apparently worked at a coffee shop, or at least a place that sold coffee. Keith paused, noting how little he actually knew about his… _ rival _ ? His brain filled in for him, yeah, rival seemed about right. Even though they weren’t really fighting anymore, it wasn’t like Keith really knew Lance that well. Keith sort of thought that they had bonded yesterday, but he meant what he had said to Shiro, it wasn’t like they were really friends or anything, yet. Then again, Lance had brought him some coffee. That meant that he was definitely thinking about him, which was, Keith gulped, feeling the redness return to his face, something. 

Keith looked up at the teacher who was saying something about the power of well-placed words, evidently hers weren’t well placed enough to keep her class, including Keith, entertained. From the back of the room, Keith could clearly see that a majority of the class were on their phones, oblivious to the lesson taking place. Keith figured he might as well use this time to get to know Lance better. He opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again. How did conversation even work? He wasn’t usually the one who started time. Most of the time he was just sort of dragged into them. Most of the time it was Shiro who was doing the dragging. What would Shiro say?  _ Let them do the talking.  _ Well that’s not very helpful, he said internally to Shiro’s voice in his head, I’m trying to start the conversation.  _ I meant ask him about something about him.  _ Well, Lance did like to talk about himself. Maybe that could work. 

“So, where do you work?”, Keith whispered in a way that he hoped was casual, like he hadn’t spent the past minute rehearsing the words in his head, pretending to still be taking notes. Lance, as usual, didn’t miss a beat, 

“Now who’s uncomfortable with silence, now, hmm?”, Keith rolled his eyes, but couldn’t help the way his mouth twitched upwards at the words, he glanced up to make sure the teacher hadn’t caught them whispering to each other and reminded himself to thank Shiro. 

“By the way,” Lance continued, pointing at Keith’s long forgotten notes, “your handwriting is terrible,”

“I’d comment on your handwriting, but you haven’t written anything down the entire lecture,”, Keith fired back, while still trying to wipe the smile off his face, 

“It’s because I don’t need to. This, right here,” Lance said gesturing to his head, “is like steel trap—“

“Shhhhhh,” a girl in front of them turned around, glaring. Keith mouthed, ‘sorry’ while Lance stuck his tongue out,

“Wanna see something fun?”, Lance smiled sinisterly, 

“I doubt that you and I have the same definition of what’s fun,”. Lance held up the paper airplane he had been folding and mimed throwing it into the class,

“Don’t do it,”

“It’ll be fun!”

“It won’t. We already got detention once,”

“I bet you five dollars that I can get it to land right in the trash can,”

“No way,” Keith said, eyeing up the distance to the trash can that was on the other side of the classroom, 

“You underestimate me young padawan. Observe the work of a true sharpshooting master,”

“You’re not going to make it,”

“Are you taking the bet, then?”

“No!”, Keith could do nothing but watch as the teacher turned back to the blackboard and Lance threw the paper airplane with all of his might into the air. However, instead of making its way across the classroom into the trash, it fell at a 90º angle and got stuck in the hair of the same girl who had shushed them earlier. The girl didn’t even notice. Lance turned to Keith, his eyes wide, he made a strange squeaking noise before opening his mouth, 

“Pfff HA—“ Keith clamped his hand over Lance’s mouth before he could get them in any more trouble,

“Problem, gentlemen,” their teacher called, her eyes narrowed, 

“No, ma’am, I just had a question about how to spell the word, uh…” he took his hand off Lance’s mouth and gave him a ‘save me’ look, 

“Uhh…s-speaking,” Lance choked out, failing to hold back his laughter, “H—he didn’t know h—how to sp-spell sp-sp-eaking,”. 

“Yeah,” said Keith, kicking Lance under the table, “I figured it was pretty important for the sake of the class,” Keith choked back a laugh as Lance, barely holding it together, gestured to the girl in front of them, the airplane still stuck in her hair, 

“Fine,” the teacher sighed, returning to her lecture. As soon as she had turned her back, Lance collapsed into a fit of giggles, 

“Speaking? Are you serious?” Keith face palmed, “that was the best you could do?”, 

“It’s in her hair, Keith, l—look!”

“I see it,” 

“Her HAIR,” Lance exclaimed nearly falling out of his chair. Keith felt himself smiling in spite of himself, 

“Y-you’re going to get us both in trouble again,” Keith said starting catch Lance’s contagious giggling, “stop laughing,”

“You stop laughing!”

“This is all y-your f-fault,” Keith choked as Lance wiped a tear from his eye, 

“I—“

“Shhhhh,” the girl in front of them whipped around again, the paper airplane fluttering in her hair as she did. It was the last straw. The two boys collapsed into a fit of not—so—silent giggles in the back of the room. Keith felt his eyes starting to tear up as Lance fell out of his chair and began laughing almost hysterically on the floor,

“Y-you’re s-such an i-idiot,” Keith choked out through his laugher, unable to contain himself any longer, 

“This c-coming from someone who d-doesn’t know how t-to spell SPEAKING?!” Lance said clutching Keith’s leg as another fit of laughter came over him. Keith shook his head, still laughing, until, he caught the eye of the furious teacher standing over them. He looked back to Lance, oblivious, still clutching Keith’s leg for support, and decided any punishment they were about to receive was definitely worth it. 

———-----—

 

“Aww man, I can’t believe we got cleaning duty for another three weeks. That plus this  week is almost like a whole month,”

“I’m pretty sure that is exactly like a full month,” said Keith, still laughing. Lance smiled, he was glad Keith had fun today. The smile was a good look for him, 

“Where’s your next class, I’ll walk you over,” he offered, 

“Really?”, Keith looked surprised, 

“Yeah, Mullet, that’s a thing that friends do, isn’t it?” He said shoving Keith playfully, “Unless you’re still against the f—word,”

“No, uh, that’s, umm, fine. It’s fine with me,” Keith stammered, 

“Well look who’s Mr. Flustered now,”

“I’m not flustered,”

“You know, I think even your mullet looks a little flustered,”

“That doesn’t even make sense,”

“YOU don’t even make sense,”, Lance laughed, while Keith put his hands up in the air in frustration and started to storm away,

“Hey, wait up!”, Lance called after him, “I never got to answer your question,”   
“What question,”

“You know, you asked about my work, but I was distracted with creating the perfect airplane, so I couldn’t answer,”

“Perfect? That thing barely went a meter,”

“Who even uses meters?”

“Oh, I dunno just the entire world?”

“Oooooh I’m sorry I didn’t realize I was talking to such an intellectual citizen of the world,” Lance laughed, “I work at Altea Grinds, it’s a couple blocks from here,”

“Oh, Shiro and I were actually just talking about that place yesterday?”

“Really?”

“Yeah, apparently he had a date there,”

“Did he happen to mention anything about the gorgeous, talented barista who made his coffee?”,

“Nope, we pretty much just talked about his date,”

“Well, I’ll go ahead and assume that I wasn’t working when he came in then,” Keith scoffed again, but he was still smiling, 

“How do you like working there?” 

“It’s okay… I guess. Hunk and Pidge both work there too, which makes it a lot more bearable, though we haven’t really had that many shifts together since the school year started,”

“Sorry about that,”

“Nah, nah,” Lance waved away Keith’s concern, “it’s not too bad. Plus, they let us have all the free coffee we want so everything sort of evens out,” he hesistated, “Actually, I mostly just have the job to help pay for Sophie’s medical stuff,”

“Really?” Keith stopped walking, 

“Yeah,” Lance nodded, “b—but we don’t have to talk about that. I just thought, I dunno, that it might be nice, since you know the situation, but if you’re uncomfortable—”

“No, it’s not that it’s just,” Keith paused, “that’s really big of you; to put in all that time for your sister I mean,”

“You think so?” 

“Yeah, I do. It’s just not something that most people would do for just a kid,”

“Isn’t it?” Lance looked at Keith, who’s eyes were filled with…some kind of emotion that Lance couldn’t quite figure out, “I mean, she’s not ‘just a kid’ she’s my sister. We all help out where we can,” he shrugged and kicked a paper ball he saw on the floor awkwardly,

“I’m sorry,” 

“You’re what?” Lance asked, looking at Keith, who was still wearing that unreadable expression, 

“I’m sorry. I— look I just never got a chance to apologize for being mean to you after you hurt your knee and a bunch of other stuff I said before I knew— I just,” Keith trailed off, before finishing more softly, “you’re a good guy, Lance,” 

“I’m pretty sure I’m the one who should have apologized first,” Lance smiled, “I mean, I did spill coffee all over your shirt—”

“—And you called me a chicken—man—”

“—And I’m still proud of that, but, yeah, if it means anything, I’m sorry too”, Lance smiled, while Keith paused

“Do you really not remember what we talked about?”, Lance felt his smile falter a little bit, 

“No, sorry I don’t, was it important?”

“Oh, I dunno, not really,” Keith hesitated, “I only bring it up because, well, you did actually apologize first, umm, but you don’t remember, and I dunno, it’s not really important now, we just sort of talked, well mostly you talked actually, but basically I dunno it was just nice,” Keith paused again, “You said that…well that you would like it…if we were… you know…friends,”. Lance couldn’t help feeling a little pang in his chest at the way Keith looked down at his feet saying the word ‘friend’. He joked earlier about Keith’s ‘loner’ vibe, but he was starting to get a feeling for how true it really was,

“Well, we’re friends now, so I guess it doesn’t really matter,” 

“Yeah?”,

“Of course, I mean what else would we be,” Lance couldn’t help the way his brain seemed to shut down at the smile that broke across Keith’s face at that.  _ Fuck,  _ “So where’s your class anyway?”, Lance continued, 

“I’m actually on break for a while,”

“So where are we going?”

“I dunno,” Keith stopped, “I was following you,”

“But  _ I _ was following  _ you _ ,”. The two of them looked around, confused, 

“I think we’re lost,” 

“Keith?”, Lance turned to see a tall guy waving to them, “Hey, what are you two doing down here in this part of the school,”

“We’re lost,” Lance said, 

“He means we’re just- just wandering, not  _ lost _ ” Keith rushed, then turned to Lance and back to Shiro, “I mean we’re just sort of exploring the school together, you know, but not together together, obviously, just—”

“You must be Lance,” Shiro said extending his good hand out to Lance for him to shake, “Keith’s told me all about you,”

“ _ Shiro _ ,”

“What? It’s not every day that you meet your baby boy’s official rival,” Shiro laughed, 

“ _ SHIRO,”  _ Keith looked like he would have tacked Shiro right then and there if there hadn’t been people around, “ _ Can. You. Not?”,  _ he hissed, his face bright red. Lance laughed and shook Shiro’s hand, deciding that Shiro was pretty great. The delicate grip and warm smile seemed like they wouldn’t fit on the tall, muscular man with the scarred face, but somehow they did,

“Shiro,”, Lance noted a woman, who could only fit Keith’s description of Allura walk up to them and place a hand on Shiro’s back, “are you ready to head out? My car’s not parked far from here,”. Keith hadn’t exaggerated Allura’s beauty, she was stunning, but he failed to mention her accent, flowing and British, Lance wouldn’t have been surprised if she was secretly related to the monarchy. Lance glanced over at Keith to see if he felt the same and was surprised to see Keith looking like Christmas had come early. Shiro on the other hand looked horrified,

“Sure, let’s go,” Shiro said turning away after shooting Keith a look, 

“Wait,” Allura laughed, her laugh sounding like if honey was a sound, that wasn’t a great description, but it was the best Lance could do, “I’m Allura, nice to meet you both. Are you some of Takashi’s students?”

“Actually, I’m Keith,” Keith said, flashing a grin that made Lance’s knees go a little weak, “It’s a privilege to finally meet you, but from how much Shiro talks about you, I feel like I already sort of know you,” Keith laughed charmingly. Shiro looked like he wanted to die.

“Oh! You’re Takashi’s brother!”, Allura said evidently delighted, “It’s nice to finally meet you too! I’ve heard lots about you as well, but I have to say, I wasn’t aware that Takashi mentioned me so much,”

“Oh, you have no idea,” Keith laughed again. Lance was convinced that Keith’s winning laugh was bad for his health, “He barely talks about anything else now. It’s always ‘Allura this’, ‘Allura that’, oh and that one day you wore that lavender dress, boy I never heard the end of it,”.

“Really?” Allura asked, beaming. Shiro’s face was bright red,

“Really. I mean it’s way worse than when Shiro would talk about any of his other girlfriends,”

“Allura and I are just friends Keith, like I said,” Shiro said the words with a smile, but there was something in his eyes that made Lance a little worried for Keith’s life,

“Isn’t that what I said, girl friends? Like female friends? Why, what were you thinking,  _ Takashi _ ?”, Keith asked innocently as Shiro sputtered looking for a response, “Anyway, you guys should probably get going, I wouldn’t want you to spend any more time here on my account,” Keith continued, reaching to shake Allura’s hand, still smiling,

“Bye Allura, Bye  _ Takashi,”  _ Keith waved as he turned around and started whistling, evidently very proud of himself. Lance waved goodbye to a beaming Allura and a livid Shiro, before running back to catch up with Keith,

“Who’s Takashi?”

“Hmm?” Keith stopped whistling, “Oh, that’s Shiro’s first name. No one really calls him that though, except for _Allura_ ,” he said emphasizing Alluras name with a bad British accent, “Shiro’s named after his dad, Takashi Shirogane Sr. _,_ but he always wanted to sort of do his own thing, so he chose Shiro as a nickname. So, if Allura can get away with calling him _Takashi,_ ” Keith laughed again, “he must really have it bad for her. I think he might even kinda like it when she calls him that,”

“You really seemed to enjoy that,”

“Well, it’s not that often I get to play the role of annoying little brother, and besides, he was asking for it,”, Keith smirked. Lance decided that Keith’s smirk was bad for his health too. 

—————

_ (14:22) Me too, possibly _ …

Keith was still smiling when he got home. Not just because of the ‘Shallura incident’ as Lance dubbed it, but because overall, it was just a good day.  _ Because of Lance _ ? Not even. Nope. Not going there. Keith searched in his bag for his keys, pushing all of those unwelcomed thoughts out of his head. He pressed his key to the keyhole to find that the door was already partially open. He tensed. No lights were on, that he could see. Maybe he had just forgotten to close the door fully on the way out. Or maybe…

He cautiously stepped inside, keys clenched in his fist. He flicked on the lights and saw no one. The apartment wasn’t big enough for anyone to really hide. It was his room, the bathroom, a hallway, and a kitchen. A quick scan of the room cleared both the kitchen and the hallway. He walked as quietly as possible to the door to his room. It was closed. Keith never closed his door on the way out of the house. Someone was here. Keith closed his hand around the handle of the door and counted to three. 

_ 1… _

__ _ 2… _

__ _ 3…. _

__ He flung the door open and braced himself only to find the room empty. The lights were off and he  _ oompf.  _ He grunted as he felt a pillow get shoved in his face from behind. He tried to struggle, but whoever had grabbed him knew what they were doing. They quickly pinned his arms to his sides and kicked his knees, making his legs buckle beneath him. He tried to yell, but the pillow made it impossible. 

He felt himself getting rolled over on his back as the pillow wacked him in the face again. Hard, 

“Ha! How do you them apples, Keith,” Keith felt himself being released as he gasped for air, 

“Honestly, what the fuck, Shiro? I thought I was being kidnapped! I thought a crazy axe murderer had broken into my house!”,

“It’s not my fault you’re obsessed with conspiracy theories,” Shiro said, unremorseful, plopping down on Keith’s bed, “You’re okay, though, right,”

“I dunno, Shiro? Am I?” Keith, in reality, was completely fine, but also was hoping to milk any potential injuries from this for all they were worth. Unfortunately for him, Shiro wasn’t buying it,

“You look fine,” he shrugged, before giving Keith a hand to his feet, 

“You know sometimes I miss the days when I was an only child,” Keith muttered, 

“Ditto,”, Shiro said pointedly, “That thing with Allura today, not cool,”,

“Yeah, I sort of figured from the way you just put me in a death grip and shoved a pillow over my face,”

“I’m not joking, Keith, I really like this girl,” 

“Enough to almost kill for her, apparently,”

“I’m being serious here,” Shiro sighed, “I guess I’m just not really sure what to do about it,”

“Sorry, I think I’m maybe just a little too shook from you breaking into my house and suffocating me to help you with your girl problems,” Keith replied, bluntly, 

“Ahh I’m sorry about that, but to be fair, you can’t say it was unwarranted,”

“You might be a little right,” Keith shrugged, “It’s not like I haven’t done worse, before though, and you never tried to kill me for those other things,”

“I wasn’t going to hurt you, Keith,”

“Tell that to my kneecaps,”

“ _ Keith, _ ”

“My point is— you must actually be pretty serious about Allura,” Keith paused, “I think you should go for it, I mean, she obviously likes you,”

“Really,” Shiro said, looking up, “You think so?”

“Yeah, did you see the way her face lit up when I said you talk about her, you’re welcome by the way for that, but anyway, she’s definitely into you”, 

“Nah,” Shiro said, “I think she was just being nice. She is so nice, Keith. She volunteers at animal shelters in her free time. She has pet mice. She treats them like her children. She’s so perfect,” Shiro sighed again, “I just can’t— whenever I’m not with her I can’t stop thinking about her, but when I am with her, I feel like she’s just going to get tired of me, you know? Like, it’s hard to express, but it’s, I dunno,”, he turned to Keith, “do you get what I mean,”,

“It’s not like I have a whole lot of experience in the romance department, you know, but yeah I get what you mean,”, he paused, “and I don’t know if it means anything coming from a person who knows nothing about anything, but it sounds like you should probably just ask her out. If the conversation we had today was any indication, she likes you, I mean that smile was a lot more than just being nice. She definitely is into you,”. Shiro smiled at that, “It’s nice to see you happy too, you know that right?” Keith continued, “I mean, not to be cheesy, but I’m glad you have someone in your life that makes you feel those things,”

“I’m glad too, but I’m not the only one with a person, it seems,” 

“We really don’t need to talk about this, now,”

“It’s rare for us to have quality Brogane time together,” 

“Ugh, can you not use that word, it’s not even funny,”. The word Brogane was Keith’s foster mom’s way of trying to make Keith and Shiro feel more like brothers. It was a mashup of the word brother, and the two boys’ last names. Brother + Kogane + Shirogane = Brogane. Genius, right? 

“I think Brogane is great— anyway, I just think if you want to talk about it. I’m here,”

“Yeah, only because you literally broke in here,”

“Life is about more than just details, Keith,” 

“Sure,” Keith said, still feeling like Shiro was taking the whole breaking and entering thing a little too lightly, “I guess there’s not much to talk about,” 

“Didn’t look that way this morning,”

“Please, Shiro, did you see the way he was staring at Allura?”

“So, what?”

“So, he’s not gay, Shiro,” Keith was surprised at the disappointment he felt saying the words, well not that surprised actually. It had been a long time since he could actually see himself with somebody, not just romantically, but even as just a friend, “Anyway, you said it yourself, it’s been a long time since I made a new friend. I’m not gonna screw that up for nothing,”. 

“Your happiness isn’t nothing, Keith,”

“That’s not what I meant, I just, you don’t get it, Shiro, there’s no point even thinking like that,” 

“What if he was interested in you, just hypothetically,” Shiro said before Keith could cut him off again, “I mean, would you be ready to come out to… well, everyone?”. Keith paused, he hadn’t really thought about it. He didn’t really see himself as  _ gay _ , well that wasn’t exactly true, in the simplest sense he liked boys, but the label that came along with it was a whole other story. If he was just Keith, he could keep living his life the way it was, keeping mostly to himself and living the life he wanted to live, but if he was Keith The Gay Kid, he was scared people would expect him to be something that he wasn’t, that strangers would think they knew him, what he was like. He was afraid that everything he did outside the typical boundaries of  _ gay  _ would make people doubt him, while everything he did that was ‘gay’, whatever that even means, would be dismissed as ‘gay stuff’. He knew he didn’t have to worry about any judgement at U of Altea, the school was, like most college campuses, pretty gay friendly, but what about outside campus? What if life took him to a part of the world where there was a lot more of a risk to being Keith The Gay Kid than just expectations? What if once he came out, there was no way to get back in? 

“Sorry if that question was too heavy,” Shiro said, pulling Keith out of his thoughts and back to reality, “I just think it’s something you should think about, you know, just in case,”,

“Nah, I’m sorry to drift like that,” Keith said, dismissing Shiro’s concern, “I just don’t really know, I guess,”

“That’s fine, Keith,”, Shiro said putting a hand on Keith’s shoulder, “you know I support whatever you choose to do, and always, your secret is safe from me,”

“Even from Allura?” Keith asked, 

“Even from Allura.”, Shiro said crossing his heart, “In the meantime, do you want me to ask around, see if I can find out anything about Lance and his, uh, gender preferences,”

“It’s fine, Shiro, I really don’t think there’s any point looking into it,” Keith shrugged, 

“Alright, if you say so,” Shiro said pulling out his phone, “but if you wanted to, hypothetically, spend more time with Lance to get a better feeling for things, I did see this when Allura and I stopped by Altean Grindz after school,” he passed his phone to Keith. The photo on Shiro’s phone was a brightly colored ‘Hiring’ sign hanging from the window of Altean Grindz, where Lance worked, 

“Thanks, Shiro, I’ll look into this,”

 


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the final chapter where there are lots of emotions everywhere and in everyone

It was 2:00 AM and Lance didn’t know what to do. He was at the hospital. The fucking hospital. Again. He replayed the events of the evening and night in his head. 4:30 PM: Lance gets home, gets changed, makes dinner for himself and his siblings, goes to do homework after dinner. 5:15 PM: Lance gives up on doing homework, goes to play with Sophie. 6:00 PM: Lance puts Sophie to bed, reads her a story. 6:45 PM: Sophie goes to sleep, Lance goes back to homework. 7:00 PM: Lance gives up on homework again, goes to check on Sophie. 7:05 PM: Lance finds Sophie wide awake, clutching at her chest. 7:06 PM: Sophie tells Lance she can’t breathe. 7:07 PM: Sophie’s inhaler isn’t working. She’s crying. Lance is scared. 7:08 PM: Lance calls his mom. No response. 7:09 PM: Lance calls 911. 7:20 PM: Sophie faints. Amanda does mouth to mouth. Sophie isn’t breathing. 7:22 PM: The ambulance arrives. 7:23 PM: Sophie is breathing again with the help of a tube. Lance is in the ambulance. The others stay at home until mom gets back, so they can fill her in. 7:30 PM: They arrive at the hospital. Sophie is rushed to the Emergency Room. 7:57 PM: Lance’s family arrives. Mom is crying. Lance is staying strong. 10:20 PM: Doctors don’t know what’s going to happen. They don’t know if Sophie is going to be okay. Lance needs to be strong. 12:38 AM: Mom takes Lance’s younger siblings home. Lance stays behind, in case Sophie wakes up. 1:30 AM: Lance falls asleep. 1:45 AM: Lance wakes up, feels guilty for sleeping. 2:00 AM: Lance is alone. No further word on Sophie. Family visitors still not allowed. 

He looked at the time, 2:02 AM. Lance sighed frustrated, he didn’t know what to do, why he was here, or what was happening, really. Everything had been going so well until suddenly, everything was hell. Sophie had been doing so well the last few months. There were no indications, no warnings preceding this turn for the worse. He pulled out his phone again to check the time. 2:03 AM. He thought about calling his family, but he didn’t have the heart. What would he even say to them? ‘Hey, I know I said I’d stay here and look after things while you guys tried to get some rest, but I’m alone and I’m terrified, so if you wanted to get up and drive back over here that’d be great,’. He looked through his other contacts— Hunk he could talk to, but there’s no way he’d be awake at this hour. Pidge? They were probably awake, but he couldn’t really see himself turning to them for something like this. The only other person that he could think of would be…  _ Keith _ . He felt a pang of longing for Keith to be by his side and wished he had some way to get in touch with him. He looked back at Pidge’s contact information and figured it was at least worth a try.

(02:05) hey pidgeon

(02:05) r u up?

**_(02:05) always tbh y?_ **

(02:05) do u have keith’s #?

**_(02:05) y?_ **

(02:05) its important

**_(02:05) o rly :))))))_ **

(02:06) hey :/

(02:06) its actually important

(02:06) i gotta talk to him about sth

(02:06) pls?

**_(02:06) hang on_ **

**_(02:06) i have it from a year ago? idk if it’s the same…_ **

(02:06) send???

**_(02:06) 480-237-4069_ **

(02:07) isnt that hunks #?

**_(02:07) no theyre almost the same tho_ **

**_(02:07) hunk is 4096_ **

(02:07) oh

(02:07) OH   
**_(02:07) ????_ **

(02:07) i think keith

(02:07) is the guy i texted???   
(02:07) the wrong # guy????

**_(02:08) wat_ **

**_(02:08) wAT_ **

**_(02:08) no fucking way_ **

(02:09) yeah??????

(02:09) i just checked and those #’s are 100% the same????

(02:09) i swear to god pidge if u r fucking with me

**_(02:09) u kno i kinda wish i was cause that would b a great prank_ **

**_(02:09) but actually no?_ **

**_(02:09) this is actually hilarious tho_ **

**_(02:09) hopefully u didn’t send him anything super embarrassing_ **

(02:10) o fuck

**_(02:10) ??_ **

(02:10) i told him

(02:10) that i had a crush on someone

(02:10) like

(02:10) the day after we talked

**_(02:10) omG_ **

**_(02:10) ahahahahaha im laughing so hard i caaant_ **

(02:10) fuccckkkkkk

(02:10) hes gonna kno??? i cant ever text him???? 

(02:10) y does the universe h8 me????

**_(02:11) BAAHAHAHAHAH_ **

**_(02:11) im dying_ **

(02:11) same?!!!!!?!?!?

**_(02:11) stop being dramatic tho_ **

**_(02:11) hes probably as oblivious as u_ **

**_(02:11) just text the poor boi_ **

(02:12) wait

(02:12) he actually responded and i didn’t see??

(02:12) he said me too?

(02:12) as in he might also have a crush on someone???

**_(02:12) damnnnn_ **

**_(02:12) this is getting spicy_ **

**_(02:12) u better nvite me to ur wedding_ **

**_(02:12) now go text him_ **

**_(02:12) ur on ur own from here_ **

(02:12) do u think he likes me tho pidge???

(02:14) dont do this

(02:17) was he talking about me?????

(02:18) i know ur awake u gremlin

(02:21) i literally hate u

**_(02:21) goodnight bby, have fun with ur bf <3_ ** __   
__   
  


Lance sighed looking down at his phone. Well… this was going to be interesting.

(02:22) hey buddy

_ (02:24) aren’t twelve-year-olds not supposed to be up this late? _

_ (02:24) *early _

Lance’s heart gave a little flutter when Keith responded. He felt like he and Keith had finally made steps towards becoming friends, good friends. He liked spending time with Keith. He wanted Keith here with him. He needed someone to support him through this, but once Keith found out that Lance had been…trolling him through a phone number, would Keith go back to hating him?  _ Only one way to find out,  _ Lance thought to himself. 

(02:24) so

(02:24) funny story

(02:24) im rly not twelve

(02:24) and i know ur not twelve

(02:24) bc funnily enough

(02:24) we know each other

(02:24) irl

_ (02:24) irl? _

(02:24) yeah

_ (02:24) no what does irl mean? _

(02:24) how can u not know that???   
(02:24) keith im disappointed

_ (02:29) _

_ (02:29) how do you know my name…? _

(02:29) do u remember how i said i put in my friends # wrong

(02:29) well that # was hunks

(02:29) its just like urs but with 4096 not 2069??   
(02:29) u might still have it saved from when we were at the hospital together if u wanna check?

Keith’s heart nearly jumped out of its chest when he read that text. Was the kid he had been texting  _ Lance?  _  Was Lance really texting him? At 2:00 AM, no less? He quickly pulled up his call history. Sure enough, Hunk’s phone number was the same as his, but with the last two digits flipped. 

_ (02:31) is this really Lance? _

(02:31) yeah bro its me

_ (02:32) are you sure? _

_ (02:32) shiro if this is you trying to give me a lesson on stranger danger I swear to god  _

(02:32) its really me keith

(02:32) idk what the chances r

(02:32) but its me

(02:32) lance

(02:32) can i call u?

_ (02:33) uhh _

_ (02:33) sure? _

“H-hello?” Keith stammered, cursing his own voice for betraying him,

“Hey, man,” Lance said. Keith sighed in relief, it was really Lance. 

“So, what’s up?” Keith tried to ask casually. There was a pause on the other end,

“Actually, umm, idk,”

“Did you just say ‘idk’ out loud?” Keith chuckled,

“Maybe, I did _idk,_ Keith,”. Lance laughed back, softly, “Sorry, I guess I got so swept up in you being the number I texted that I got a little distracted from…well the reason I wanted to call in the first place,” 

“Is everything alright?” Keith asked, noting the uncharacteristic nervousness in Lance’s voice,

“Yeah, well, no, well, it’s just,” Lance sighed, “sorry I just I guess I didn’t know who else to call—,”

“What’s up?”

“—I mean we don’t really know each other that well or anything—”

“—Lance—”

“—And I probably just woke you up at two in the morning just to complain—,”

“—Lance it’s fine, I was already awake,” Keith hesitated before continuing, “Whatever it is, just don’t worry, it’s going to be fine. I-I’m here for you,” He heard Lance’s breathing steady over the phone,

“I’m just really sorry to bother you with this,”

“It’s fine, Lance, stop apologizing,”

“It’s just— it’s Sophie,”

“Is she okay?”

“No, well, maybe, probably yes, but now, she’s just not- I’m not—“

“It’s okay Lance, just breathe, what happened?”

“She took a turn last night. I’m waiting at the hospital. I-I’m just a little shaken, to be honest,” Lance’s voice cracked and Keith felt something protective stirring within him,

“Are you okay?”

“Me? Yeah? I’m fine- It’s just- the rest of my family already went home. I said I would stay, just in case there was news, but I- I dunno man. I’m maybe freaking out a little,”, Keith cradled the phone closer to his ear as he heard Lance sniffle through the phone, “Sorry,” Lance continued, “I guess you just distracted me from everything for a second there, but oh man, she’s my sister, how could I even let myself get distracted—,”

“Do you want me to come over?”, the offer was out of Keith’s mouth before he could even process the thought,

“Do I- are you serious?” 

“Yeah, well, not if that’s like really weird or anything,”

“No- not weird it’s just,” Lance paused, “you would really do that, man?”

“Of course,”. Keith hesitated, “I mean we’re friends, aren’t we?”

“Yeah, man”,

“Good,” Keith let out the breath he didn’t know he had been holding, “Then if you want me there—,”

“Sorry, no, I mean yes, but you shouldn’t have to leave and drive over here just because I’m being stupid,”

“You’re not being stupid, Lance,”

“I am. I’m being really really stupid. I mean, I am stupid, it’s kind of my thing, you know?”

“Lance, do you want me to come over there or not? It’s really not a big deal,”.

“Yeah. Y-yeah. I want you here, Keith,”

“Then I’m on my way. Just hang tight okay?”

“’Kay,”

“See you soon,”

“Yeah, see ya…and Keith?”

“Mmm?”

“Thank you,”.

Keith felt a twinge of regret pulling the phone away from his ear, but hung up, phone in his pocket, and slipped on his gloves, anyway. So much for a quiet night. He looked at the phone again, rereading Lance’s texts, his mystery texter,  _ Lance _ . As he walked to the door, he thought back to the phone call. Even through the phone, Lance’s words were more than just words, they were crying, they were distress, they were emotions that Keith knew, that he understood. Keith pretty much flew out the door and down the stairs to his bike, not bothering to close the door quietly behind him, neighbors be damned. 

———--——

Despite everything, Lance felt himself smile as he saw Keith walk into the waiting room. Keith’s hair was a mess, sticking up everywhere. It looked like the poor boy hadn’t even bothered to change out of his pajamas. Then again, Lance thought to himself, he likely didn’t look much better. Lance felt his mouth twitch again at the way Keith’s frantic eyes softened when they spotted him. He waved Keith over, 

“Thanks for coming, man,” Lance said as Keith settled into the chair next to him, “sorry, you had to come all the way out here, I just— well it’s—  I, uh, I’m glad you’re here,”, 

“Quit apologizing,” Keith ordered. If Lance hadn’t known Keith better, he would have thought Keith sounded angry, like the jerk Lance had pegged him for when they first met, but now he could see the raw, unfiltered emotion that crossed his features: his shoulders tense, eyebrows furrowed, his tired eyes, and the bags that Lance saw underneath them. Keith ran a finger through his hair and began to stare intently at a spot at the floor, 

“Sorry if I snapped at you?”

“Huh?”

“Well when I said that I didn’t mean it like that, I just meant, that you’re fine,”, Keith said before pausing and shaking his head, “not that you’re fine right now- I mean your sister is- and you’re- and- Jesus fuck- I’m just,”, he took a deep breathe, “I’m really shit with words, but what I mean is that you have nothing to apologize for,”, Keith turned to Lance his eyes searching for an indication that he had said the right thing. Lance smiled the warmest smile he could and placed a hand on Keith’s knee, 

“Thanks, man. For all of this. It means a lot,”. From this close, Lance definitely noticed the pink that rose in Keith’s face when he had placed his hand and decided to keep it there for a while longer. Not just to annoy Keith, but because Lance wasn’t exaggerating. Having Keith come all this way, having someone here with him, it meant a lot. He almost felt like he needed to keep holding onto Keith, touching him, to assure himself that someone was here. That he wasn’t alone,

“Waiting is the worst part,”

“The worst part…?” Lance parroted, dumbly. Keith had gone back to staring at that same spot on the floor. 

“My family, when they,” Keith hesitated, “when they died. I was alone. I got the news alone I mean, but it wasn’t even the news that was the worst part it was just waiting to know what was going to happen,” he finished, his voice trailing off as he kept staring at the floor, 

“Sophie isn’t going to die, Keith,”

“Of course not! That’s not what I—“,

“I know sorry, I, drat, I didn’t mean to accuse you of anything either, I just, thanks, for being here,” now it was Lance’s turn to hesitate, “I thought a lot about things that would make me feel less alone, people I could talk to, and there’s no one else I’d rather have here than you, Keith,”. Lance said, watching the surprised look on Keith’s face with more than a little amusement,

“R-really?”

“Of course. I mean, I have other friends and stuff, but none of them latched on to Sophie the way you did, and none of them really get what it’s like to watch the people you love—”, Lance stopped abruptly, when he saw Keith flinch, 

“Sorry, I didn’t mean that this is the same as what you went through,”

“Huh?,” Keith asked looking up from his spot on the ground,  “Oh no, I didn’t take it like that,” he laughed a little, “seems like neither of us is very good at being sensitive today,”

“Nah, I guess not,” Lance laughed too. Keith ran a finger through his hair, 

“It’s not that different actually. I mean the feeling. Or maybe it is, I’m not sure. But, I guess I don’t really remember that many specifics about what happened that night. I remember hearing someone screaming. There was a lot of blood. Blood on the seats, on glass, and on— just everywhere, on me, just everywhere. I remember thinking to myself that I wanted whoever was making all that noise, that screaming, I mean, to just shut the hell up, you know? But when I yelled for them to be quiet, the screaming stopped and I realized it was actually me— ” Keith chucked to himself a little bit,  

“Keith—“,

“Sorry,” Keith continued, looking apologetically at Lance, “I always think that part is kinda funny, but it did sound like I was a little crazy out loud, didn’t it?”

“No, no, it’s not that,” Lance rushed, “It’s just, well shit man, that’s just, a lot, I guess, but I get what you mean, sort of. When Sophie, the first time, this time too, there was no blood or anything. There’s never any blood. It’s just- you can tell because her eyes get all wide and her face, the first time, it turned purple and you could see all the veins, none of us understood back then what her problem was, well not her problem, I mean her sickness, and it was just, it was so scary, but, despite that, it was like I couldn’t feel anything about it at all. I just sorta shut down,”. Lance looked at Keith who was nodding, 

“Yeah,” Keith said, “because it doesn’t seem like the kind of thing that can happen to you. Like, that kind of shit, it only happens in movies and stuff, you know what I mean. I- I just kept thinking to myself that none of it was real, that maybe I was going crazy, cause that made more sense to me than the idea that it could be real. Just like on the way to the hospital, thinking  _ it’s not real.  _ Twenty-three stiches. It’s not real. We’re so sorry but…. It wasn’t real. They were dead. It wasn’t real. Nothing was real back then,” Keith sighed, “I’m really sorry, I feel like whenever I’m around you I just sort of vomit this stuff out, I mean there’s no way that you want to hear about this  _ now  _ of all times, when Sophie is—”

“Hey,” Lance interrupted. He hesitated for a second before taking Keith’s hand in his own, “being able to talk about this stuff, to listen, that shit is really nice for me, okay? Especially now, so don’t apologize,”

“Kay,”

“Kay? What I just said was super sweet,  _ Keith _ , if you can’t  _ hannndle _ that then say so, but you gotta give me more than just a  _ kay _ ,”

“What do you want then, loser,” Keith asked, but he was smiling again, and the fact that he didn’t try to hide the blush spreading across his neck, made Lance smile too,

“You really want to know what I want from you, Keith?” Lance purred, as Keith’s blush became more and more pigmented, 

“Not really, it was more of a rhetorical—”,

“Hey,” Lance cut him off, squeezing Keith’s hand a little more tightly and staring directly into Keith’s inhumanly pretty eyes, “What I want from you, what I need is, well it’s—” Lance paused as Keith gulped, 

“I just really want a cup of coffee, ya feel, fam?”, Lance finished, back to the carefree boy Keith thought he had met a couple day before. Keith almost had to do a double take as his eyes widened. That was not what he had expected Lance to say, but then again, what else was he expecting Lance to say,

“I don’t have any money,”

“That’s fineee, I wasn’t expecting you to buy for me or anything, I just don’t really want to sit here anymore. I just keep glancing at that door and you know—”

“Fine,” Keith said, standing up, “let’s go find you some coffee,” 

“Awww you’re going to escort me?”

“What else am I gonna do?”

“What a good boyfriend,”

“D—don’t flatter yourself, idiot, let’s just go,” Keith finished, kicking Lance’s chair a little. 

———---——

So, Lance was maybe like a little in love with Keith? Not like super in love with Keith because damn that boy has a dumb—looking mullet  _ that he pulls off really well somehow  _ but also his eyes and his voice and just the way he talks about all that stuff like it’s nothing, when it’s not nothing, and man, Lance could listen to him talk about things were forever, but also Keith was obviously really straight, and that was unfortunate. When he grabbed Keith’s hand, he just wasn’t thinking clearly. He just wanted to hold Keith and tell him that everything was going to be okay, but obviously it made him uncomfortable, and yeah that was kinda funny ‘cause no—homo or whatever, but then Lance just sort of started teasing him and the poor boy just looked so upset, so Lance  _ had  _ to change the subject, which was why they were getting some coffee at 3:00AM because why not? Keith also didn’t mention the text he had sent once. Was it possible he hadn’t even noticed. That he hadn’t made the connection between Lance’s text about a crush and his own stupid face.

And there was he was again, getting distracted by this boy when Sophie,  _ Sophie,  _ was lying in a hospital bed feeling God knows how bad and scared. It’s her he should be here for. It’s her he was supposed to be here for, but he couldn’t have done this alone.  _ Keith did.  _ He wasn’t Keith.  _ Lots of people do, they go through stuff alone, worst stuff than this, for their family, you’re just not strong enough.  _

“Shut up,” he murmured out loud, putting his hands on his temples. Evidently, the lack of sleep was getting to him. Keith on the other hand looked just as awake as Lance had ever seen him. Or, maybe not? Right now he was Lance glanced over at Keith who was scanning the floor intently for…something,

“Whatcha looking for, pal?”

“Hmm?”, Keith murmured, “Oh, there’s this one tile in the waiting room, the one I was looking at, that’s different looking than all the others. I’m looking for more,”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I mean, there can’t just be one, right?”

“No, I mean, really out of all the tiles in the hospital you happen to notice the one that’s a little bit off? That’s like, I dunno, some Sherlock Holmes stuff right there”, Keith stopped walking and turned to Lance, his expression unreadable, 

“I think it’s a conspiracy,”, Lance raised his eyebrows and giggled a little bit despite himself, 

“You what?”

“It’s a conspiracy! Like the Da Vinci Code or whatever, except that conspiracy is actually bullshit. It’s like, out of all the tiles in this entire hospital, the company happens to bring one and only one tile that’s different and puts it down instead of just getting another identical one?”

“So, you think there are more?”

“There’s gotta be! It’s like a puzzle, a message, it could be the key to God himself to all we know,”

“Oh my God—“

“I’m being serious!”

“You’re a conspiracy theorist,” Lance pointed accusingly, his laughter increasing, “Y-you’re an actual conspiracy theorist. What? D-Do you believe in Bigfoot, too?”, Lance’s laughter only increased when Keith scoffed, 

“Please, Bigfoot is for children. All the evidence points to a guy, or a couple of guys, in a costume. As far of cyptids go, Mothman is where it’s at,”

“What the  _ hell  _ is a Mothman?”, Evidently, this opened some sort of door to Keith who began enthusiastically explaining all of the evidence, and really, it was  _ all  _ of the evidence that Mothman existed. Lance stared in awe as Keith detailed the entire Mothman incident of 1996. Keith’s features lit up, his motions became more animated, and he proceeded to talk more in those few minutes than Lance had heard him talk in the entire time they had known each other.  _ This  _ was what got that moron excited?  _ Mothman?  _ It was a combination of that and the fact that Keith, or anyone really, could describe the details of something called  _ Mothman  _ and be completely serious that forced Lance into a state of stifled giggles, 

“—and so, the family got back to town, and  _ poof  _ no sign of the creature—”

“—mhmm—“

“—and so everyone thinks they’re crazy, and yeah, they seem a little crazy, but they weren’t—“

“—of course not—“

“—because then it showed up again and poisoned their water supply—“

“Are you sure  _ Mothman  _ isn’t just a poorly named Batman villain?”,

“I’m being serious,”, Keith paused, grabbed Lance by the shoulder and looking at him completely deadpanned said, “Mothman is still out there. He waits in the shadows. He will return,”, Lance couldn’t hold back his laughter anymore at that,

“ _ He will return??”,  _ Lance cackled,  _ “You’re so serious about this,”,  _ Keith rolled his eyes and turned away, but he was still smiling, 

“Yeah, but I sort of thought you wouldn’t go for it,” Keith paused, and smiled softly again, “but I made you laugh, didn’t I?”, Lance felt his cheeks flush a little at that, while an oblivious Keith who continued, “Besides, I have plenty of time to convince you, especially if we’re really going to be here until visiting hours open again,”, Lance paused and glanced at his watch. If they waited until visiting hours were open again, they’d be here for at least another six hours,

“You don’t have to stay here, man,”, 

“I like it here,”, Keith shrugged,

“You  _ like  _ being in a hospital at almost 3:00AM?”

“Well that wasn’t exactly what I meant,”

“What did you mean?”

“Well I like being with- no it’s nothing, really,”

“Is it another conspiracy that a mere mortal like me wouldn’t understand?”, 

“I’m starting to think so,” Keith murmured, half to himself., “Are we staying here until visiting hours open again, though?”

“I dunno, man,” Lance paused, glancing back in the direction they had come in, “I just thought that, if Sophie woke up, I didn’t want her to feel like she was alone. I know that she can’t know that we’re here and all, but I just, if there’s anyway that she can—“, Lance sighed, “guess you’re not the only one who’s into conspiracies,”

“I’d hardly call that a  _ true _ conspiracy theory, but yeah I get that,” Keith hesitated, “still it’s important to take care of yourself too, I mean, you wanna be awake when you see her,”

“Yeah, but it’s not like I can just go home, I mean, you’ve seen where I live, it’s pretty far. If something changed, I won’t be able to get here in time. Besides The rest of my family are all at home and buses aren’t exactly running right now—”, Keith opened his mouth, “—and under no circumstance am I letting you drive me all that way in the dark, dude— “, Keith closed his mouth, as Lance groaned internally. This conspiracy loving idiot was really thinking of driving him all the way home in the dark, wasn’t he? Lance was so distracted by his own thought that he almost didn’t hear what Keith asked next, 

“Huh?”

“I asked if you wanted to come crash at my place ‘cause it’s closer than yours,”. Lance made a mental note not to read too much into that request as Keith continued, “I mean, it’s not like a palace or anything, but if you wanted to just stay until visitning hours and head back over here, you could. You’d be close enough to get here fast if anything changes with her condition,” 

“I guess that’s true,”, Lance paused with a start, “Would we have to go back on your death contraption of a bike,”

“Don’t talk about her like that! Red is just trying to live her best life, geez,”

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding,” Lance looked at Keith again, “you’re sure it would be okay if I— “, 

“Of course,” Lance looked at Keith again.  _ Of course.  _ He repeated the words in his head. Not ‘fine’, not ‘if I have to’, not ‘okay’.  _ Of course.  _ Lance sighed, this boy was going to kill him, 

“Alright, if I could crash at your place, for a little while, that would be not the worst thing ever,”. 

——————

One thing that Keith forgot while he was heading out of his his house this morning was that he really hated driving in the dark, like, really hated it. Usually he drove for speed, for the feel of the wind in his hair, but this time, with Lance’s arms wrapped tightly around his waist, he drove for calm. Lance seemed to prefer the slower speeds, too. Keith felt Lance press his bulky, helmeted head against Keith’s neck, 

“Don’t fall asleep, okay?” Keith called back,  

“Mhmm,” Lance mumbled in response, tired. Keith prayed that Lance wouldn’t fall asleep while they were on the road, but also thought it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if he wanted to just rest his head on Keith’s shoulder for a little longer, 

“We’re almost there, alright?”, another thing that Keith hated was driving his bike without a helmet, but he had only brought one and one thing that Keith hated more than driving without a helmet was the idea of Lance sitting in the back without a helmet. Keith took the final sharp turn into his driveway and felt Lance wrap his hands around his waist a little tighter, 

“We’re here,”

“Oh,” Lance said, looking dazed, “I think I almost fell asleep,”

“I know, I have a helmet imprint on my neck to prove it,” Lance raised a hand to his head, having apparently forgotten that the helmet was there, he raised his hands to the buckle keeping it in place and fumble with it, “here, let me,” Keith was thankful for the cover of dark hiding his face as he expertly undid the clasp and his hands brushed against Lance’s cheek. He gestured to the door, “Shall we?”. 

Keith’s apartment definitely wasn’t what Lance had imagined. Really, he wasn’t sure exactly what he expected to see, but it was probably something closer to the messy, single guy living alone look than the overly tidy apartment Lance saw upon walking in. There weren’t that many  _ things  _ in the apartment, per say, a couple of bookshelves, an open kitchen that shared a room with the living room, and another door that led into an equally tidy, and proportionally tiny bedroom, 

“Sorry I didn’t get a whole lot of time to make all of this,” Keith gestured to the apartment, “presentable,”

“Are you joking? This place is great,” Lance said looking around, “I’ve always wanted to have my own room. How do you live without stuff though? You only have like three things in this house,” Lance said gesturing to the couch, bookshelf, and the T.V. he saw in the bedroom,”

“Well it’s not like there’s a whole lot of space to work with or anything,” Keith said waving away the question, “besides, it’s just me here, not like I really need that much,” Keith took of his shoes and socks and gestured for Lance to do the same, “sorry, Asian rules in this house,”

“Yeah, no problem,”, Lance said removing his shows, he really hoped that his feet didn’t smell,

“Do you want anything?” Keith asked, settling down and stretching his arms on the couch in front of the television. Lance tried to tell his brain stop thinking about all the possible answers to that question, “I can get you water and I have, like, snacks and stuff, if you’re hungry, oh and coffee, I have lots of coffee, if you still want,”

“Just water is cool,” Lance said, but the rumbling of his stomach betrayed him, “some snacks might be nice too, if it’s not too much trouble, I mean,” 

“Sure, lemme check what I have,”, Keith said getting up to go look through a pantry in the kitchen. Lance wandered a little further from the walkway. The first thing he noticed when he walked by the T.V. was that Keith had a heck of a lot of video games, “How many game consoles do you have?” Lance called out to the kitchen, 

“Too many, according to Shiro,” Keith called back, “if you wanna play something you can set it up, but lemme know cause I’m gonna make some coffee if we’re staying up later,”

“I might actually take you up on that,” Lance said and wandered a little further to the bookshelf just outside Keith’s room. Unsurprisingly, it was littered with conspiracy theory books. It seemed like Keith was into everything from Big Foot to lizard people. Lance took a peek into Keith’s bedroom. The walls were covered in evenly spaced posters, most of which were actually for music.  _ “ _ I knew you were an emo,” Lance muttered to himself upon seeing the signed My Chemical Romance poster on the wall next to Keith’s desk. Keith’s desk was quite possibly the only place in the house that was messy. His laptop was asleep, but still open, his headphones still plugged in hanging precariously from the table, Lance wondered if Keith had left them like this when he rushed to meet him at the hospital. Lance peeked into the closet and screeched loudly, 

“Oh, you found him,”

“ _ Him???”  _ Lance asked, staring at what only could be a lifesize cut out of mothman, “Why do you even have this?? What? Where? whY?,” Keith shrugged and smiled, obviously very amused, “I got him to prank Shiro, but then he just sort of grew on me,” Keith patted the cut out fondly, 

“You’re insane,”

“That’s what all the non-believers say, anyway, about the food, I wasn’t really sure what you wanted, but I found some chips and also bread and jam that I guess Shiro dropped off last time he came, which he didn’t need to do or whatever, but anyway—“

“I don’t know how I’m supposed to eat now that I’ve seen this  _ thing _ ,”

“You’re gonna hurt his feelings. Do you want to eat or not?”, Lance laughed,

“Yeah, cryptid-boy, bread and jam sounds great,” 

“Well, if you’re done insulting my friends,” Keith said, closing the door on his ‘friend’ mothman, “let’s go eat,”, he started heading back to the table in front of the couch where he had left the food and water, when Lance called out,

“Wait, wait, wait, do you know how much time and effort it took for me to get you to admit that we were friends? I brought you coffee, I watched you torment your brother in silence, I took you into my  _ home _ , and all mothman has to do is poison some water and bam  _ he’s  _ your friend? Unbelievable!”, Keith laughed at that and turned to Lance, 

“The day you grow wings and become a beautiful bird man give me a call,”

“Is that a dare?”

“Yes, Lance, yes I dare you to become a cryptid,”

“You will regret those words, Kogane,”

“I look forward to it,” Keith chucked, spreading some jam on a piece of bread and handing it to Lance, Keith picked up the remote and turned on the T.V, “wanna watch something?” Keith asked, the food in his mouth muffling the words so they sounded more like ‘wabaa wtch sabin?’. Lance nodded, it was about 4:00AM already, he was a little too tired to want to keep up a conversation and from the look on Keith’s face, it looked like he felt the same way, 

“I want to watch your favorite conspiracy movie,”, Keith’s eyes widened, 

“Really?”

“Really,”

“Okay,” Keith said hesistatly, “well I don’t have a favorite exactly, but there is this one that conspiracy theory that I just read about yesterday that I liked a lot and it’s a lot more mainstream than some others, so you might like it. It’s from a couple episodes of Doctor Who— do you watch Doctor Who?”, Lance shook his head, “Well it’s a little hard to explain then, but basically this fan theory that the Weeping Angels, who are sort of monster, alien things are actually dead Time Lords, which are a different kind of alien thing and it’s umm,” Keith trailed off looking disappointed, realizing that he wasn’t going to be able to summarize the entirety of doctor who in a few minutes, while still getting Lance to understand the theory, 

“Is Doctor Who a good show?”

“Yeah, for sure, it’s been around for like fifty years or whatever,”

“Well, we could just, I dunno, watch some?” Lance suggested as Keith’s eyes lit up again, 

“Do you really want to?”

“Why not? Do you have it?,” 

“Well, I do, but I don’t want you to watch it just because—“

“Keith—“,

“I mean you’re probably really tired and—“

“Keith—“

“I just,” Keith sighed “if you hate it, just lie to me and tell me you thought it was okay at least, alright?”

“Keith, I wanna watch it, just put it on and quick worrying so much,”

“Look who’s talking,”, Keith smiled, seeming relived that he wasn’t forcing Keith into watching his show. Keith pulled up the first episode and paused, “It takes a little getting used to, but if you give it a chance—“

_ “Keith _ —“

“Okay, fine, I’m playing it,” 

—————

It turns out that Lance really liked Doctor Who, like, he loved it. At first Keith thought he was just sort of putting on an act for Keith’s benefit, but it turned out that Lance just really liked the show, even if he didn’t really understand it, 

“If they’re all aliens, shouldn’t they be working together to, like, conquer the Earth?”,  

“No, well, aliens in this show just sort of represent people, like, except for a few who are like actually evil. It just sort of shows how creatures from everywhere have a sort of shared, well, not humanity exactly, but you know,”

“Wait, so his planet is like  _ poof?” _

__ “Yeah, actually we want the one who poofed it but you find that out later,”

“SPOILER ALERT, hellloo,” 

“Are you okay?”

“H-his face it just— he changed— I don’t—“

“Yeah, it does that,”

Keith wasn’t exactly sure when he they had actually fallen asleep, but he did know that when he woke up Lance was, oh, look at that, just, you know, sleeping on top of him. Keith’s eyes widened as his cheeks turned rose red. Fuuuckk. He made a move to roll out from under Lance when Lance murmered in protest, in his sleep no less and curled his hands around the fabric of Keith’s shirt. Keith, faced still flushed, slowly untangled his arm from Lance’s grasp and grabbed his phone to check the time. 1:00PM? They had long passed the start of visiting hours for Sophie. Keith moved to wake Lance up, but froze when he realized the position the two were in. What if Lance woke up and hated him? What if he thought Keith was coming onto him? What if he was so embarrassed that he never wanted to talk to him again? Keith felt his heart sink and decided it was probably better to let Lance wake up on his own, or at least wake him up when they weren’t  _ sleeping together?  _ His brain unhelpfully filled in. No not sleeping together, just, accidently haven fallen asleep near each other in a totally bro-y kind of way probably. 

Keith wedged a throw pillow under Lance’s head as he slipped out from underneath him and headed outside to sort through his thoughts.

_ (11:03) Hey Shiro _

_ (11:03) Hey _

_ (11:03) Are you awake? _

_ (11:03) Of course I’m awake, it’s almost lunch time…. _

_ (11:03) Did you just wake up? _

_ (11:03) What time did you sleep? _

_ (11:03) Idk _

_ (11:03) Keith… _

_ (11:03) relax dad im fine _

_ (11:04) …. _

_ (11:04) What’s up _

_ (11:04) I mean we’re still gonna talk about this sleep thing but _

_ (11:04) you rarely text me without reason _

_ (11:04) Lance is sleeping on my couch _

_ (11:04) what _

_ (11:04) whAT _

_ (11:04) wait _

_ (11:04) what??????? _ __   
_ (11:04) are you okay?? _ __   
_ (11:04) what happened?? _ _   
_ __ (11:04) im calling

_ (11:04) please don’t… _

True to old-man-trapped-in-a-twenty-eight-year-old-body form, Shiro called,

“Did you say Lance was at your house?”

“Yeah,”

“How? Why? What? When?”

“He texted me last night when his sister was at the hospital and I went over and we talked and he came back here to sleep,”

“Okay, but like a real, breathing person slept over at your house and you’re just cool with that?”

“What do you mean?”

“What do I mean? Keith, you chose to sleep in an attic for five years rather than share a room with me because you ‘wanted a space that was only yours where no one could see you,’”

“I was going through a  _ phase,  _ Shiro,”

“But it’s not a phase it’s a lifestyle,” Shiro mimicked a younger version of Keith, 

“I will hang up the phone right now,”

“No, I’m sorry, I just, it’s kind of a lot to take in,”

“It’s not really,”

“Then why did you text me about it?”

“I dunno, I just needed something to do after I got out from underneath him,”

“After you WHAT,” Keith yanked the phone away from his ear as Shiro yelled, ‘ “Cool your pants, dad, he just fell asleep on top of me,”

“He just did what?”,

“We were watching Doctor Who, we binged, it happens,” Keith heard Shiro sigh through the phone, 

“No, Keith, it doesn’t,” 

“What are you talking about?”

“You actually think that Lance texted you in the middle of the night, out of all the people he could have texted, to come and be with him—”

“—Well he didn’t exactly ask me to go to the hospital—“

“—to help him at his weakest point, then went over to your house and watched some nerd show—“

“It’s not a nerd show, you just never gave it a chance,”

“—and apparently fell asleep on top of you because he is a one-hundred-percent-straight male,”

“You don’t even know what you’re talking about, Shiro,”

“I think I know a crush when I see one,  _ Keith _ ,”

“Speaking of which, how are things with Allura going?”

“Don’t change the subject,”

“You’re not my real dad,”

“ _ Keith,”,  _ Shiro said, his voice was so full of concern and amusement. Fuck that. Keith didn’t think this was funny at all. In fact, he was pretty pissed. 

__ “Well what do you want me to say, Shiro?” Keith yelled into the phone, looking a little bit deranged, “Yeah, I like Lance, okay, but, unlike you, I’m smart enough to see that that’s never going to happen,”

“Keith,”

“I mean, I barely know him, but I do feel something. Do you know why? It’s ‘Cause these past few days have been great, Shiro, I mean, can you even imagine, having someone around, someone to talk to? Do you realize how long it’s been for me since I’ve had someone like that in my life?”,

“Keith,”

“Someone that’s not you I mean, but still, I’m not going to ruin that just because I like him. I mean, I never asked to like boys, Shiro, my life would be a heck of a lot easier if I could just not. But, even after everything, the universe is still like, oh you thought you could be normal? Nope,”

“Keith there’s nothing abnormal about,”

“Shut up, Shiro, you don’t know anything about what it feels like. If you ever tell Allura how you feel about her, the worst that could happen is that she says she doesn’t like you back or laughs in your face, but for me?  He could tell everyone. He could hate me, like actually hate me. In the most likely scenario, he’s just so uncomfortable that he avoids me for the rest of his life. I mean, what else could he do?”

“He could like you back, Keith”

“Don’t start with me, Shiro,” Keith snapped, “it doesn’t matter how I feel because you and I both know what no one’s ever going to want to be with me. You said it yourself, remember, I’m just going to grow up and probably spend my days hunting for cryptids in the woods like a maniac,”

“Keith, you know I was joking when I said that.”, Keith didn’t respond, “Hey c’mon, Keith, I know you’re upset, and I’m sorry if I said something that bothered you but—“,

“I’m gonna have to call you back, Shiro,”

“Keith, don’t hang up. Keith?”

But by the time Shiro had given his final plea, Keith was no longer listening. He was instead, standing, frozen in place, paralyzed, 

“If you keep your mouth open like that, you’ll catch flies,”, said Lance who had been standing in the doorway for… god only knew how long, “though, I have to say, mouth open, that frantic light in your eyes, it’s not a bad look for you,” Lance winked with a knowing look and Keith turned bright red. All hopes Keith had of Lance possibly not overhearing his rant disappeared, 

“So—“, Lance said, beginning walking over to Keith. Keith didn’t know what to do. He wasn’t ready to hear whatever other comments Lance had. He didn’t want to be made fun of. He was still shaking from his conversation with Shiro. He didn’t want to take out his anger on Lance. He didn’t need Lance to think he was any more of a freak than he already did. So he did the only thing he could think of. He bolted. 

—————

Lance didn’t mean to eavesdrop on Keith’s private conversation. He just woke up to shouting and went to make sure everything was okay. It turned out that everything was more than okay. Well, he did sort of know that he probably shouldn’t have been listening to that conversation, but he heard his name and… other things. He just couldn’t go back in side. By the time Keith had noticed him standing in the doorway, Lance had realized at least six very important things: 

1) Keith was gay 

2) Keith thought he, Lance, was straight 

3) Keith was stupid and oblivious to reality

4) Keith liked Lance, like romantically. 

5) Keith thought that he didn’t deserve Lance or something like that? 

6) Keith was  _ very _ stupid and also Lance liked him and his stupidness a lot

Maybe that was actually six things, but he had known at least one of them before this. So, naturally, when Lance made eye contact with a stunned Keith after the phone call, he had said something flirty. Something that he thought screamed  _ “hey I like you too, dummy”  _ as loud as anything. But then, Keith had run away. Like physically turned red, turned around, and sprinted away from him. 

Lance didn’t understand, at first. He thought maybe he got things wrong. That Keith wasn’t talking about him, but then he remembered Keith’s face back at the cafeteria, during the Chicken-Man incident that felt like such a long time ago. The expression he wore then was almost identical to the one he wore before he ran away.  _ He thinks I was making fun of him,  _ Lance realized as he stared after Keith. 

He started to run, before he even realized what he was doing. He ran out of Keith’s apartment complex, after taking a couple wrong turns on the way to the elevator, and headed outside. His legs chose a direction and ran before his head had caught up to their decision. He realized that he was following the same route that he had the day he and Keith had their race, when Lance stared to see Keith as more than ‘angry, jerk, coffee guy,”. Lance wasn’t exactly sure why, but somehow he was certain that Keith was following this route too. It didn’t take him too long to catch sight of Keith, sitting on a bench, with his head in his hands, 

“Hey,” Lance wheezed, approaching the bench. Keith looked up, surprised, 

“Hey,” 

“Mind if I sit?” Lance said, putting his hands behind his head and breathing deeply. Keith shook his head and looked away from Lance, who was regaining his breath,

“You know, when most people run away from their problems,” Lance huffed, “they do it figuratively,” 

“Sorry,” Keith said, staring out into the distance, “I just didn’t want you to hear any of that,”

“Yeah, sorry for eavesdropping,”

“It’s okay,”, 

“We’re okay though, right?” Lance asked after having regained his breath, 

“I guess that’s up to you,” Keith said, looking nervous, “are we okay? I mean are you, you’re not mad? Are you mad?”

“Why would I be mad?”, Lance asked, “Look I didn’t hear your full conversation or anything, but I heard some of what you said to Shiro, and all that stuff about me hating you is bullshit, Keith. Anyone who would hate you for being gay isn’t worth your time,”

Keith visibly cringed a little bit at the g-word, and shook his head, “that’s easy for you to say,”

“Oh, yeah, cause I’m straight, right?”

“Yeah,”

“No,”

“What?”, Keith asked, doing a double take, 

“No, Keith, just, no,”

“What do you mean no,”

“I’m not straight, dumbass,”

“Stop messing with me,” Keith frowned,

“Dude, I’m not joking,”

“I saw you checking out Allura the other day, you don’t need to lie to make me feel better,”

“Yeah, ‘cause Allura is hot,”

“Case in point,” Keith sighed,

“Cause in point, what? I’m bi, you moron,”

“You’re what?”

“Bi? Bisexual? I swing both ways? I play on both teams? Ya feel?”, Lance sighed, “Sorry that was really cringy? Or was it? It sounded cringy. I never know how to make the whole coming out thing seem not cringey. Every time there’s always a little bit of like- I dunno. It’s just, yeah, I’m bi, so... yeah,”

“Wh-huh?” Keith made a confused noise. Evidently, it had never occurred to him that Lance could be anything other than straight. Lance scoffed, 

“Yeah, dummy,” 

“Oh,” Keith said, a flush of pink starting to spread across his neck, “So when you texted me saying you had a crush on someone? I-uh Is it, umm, a girl, or, umm, do they go to our school,”

“Oh, so you did notice that, huh?”, Lance rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, “I was worried you might,” he chuckled a little bit, “no it wasn’t a girl,”

“Oh,”

“It was this guy that I met about a week ago, actually,”

“Uh huh,”

“He’s about 5’10”, has some really weird hair, and his smile, oh man,”

“Mmmhmm,” Keith replied, his face still bright red,

“But I’m starting to reconsider, I mean, he’s a real dumbass sometimes, and- Hey!”, Lance yelled and Keith (not so) playfully slapped him on the shoulder,  “And guess what else?”

“W-what?” Keith said turning to meet Lance’s eyes with his own,

“I’m taking you out on a date,”

“You’re what?”

“I’m taking you out!”

“Y-you can’t just do that,”

“What do you mean?”

“I-I mean you need to ask, or, I dunno, something,” Keith stuttered, the pink on his chest spreading up to his nose,

“Why not? You like me don’t you?”

“Well I-I’m not, I —“

“and I like you, so the natural progression is sort of to do something together,”

“But that’s like —“

“What?”

“Really  _ gay _ ,” Keith laughed nervously as Lance playfully punched him in the shoulder, 

“Yeah, man, that’s the point,” 

—————

Once Keith got over the initial shock of everything, he sort of expected to be on some sort of Cloud Nine, the way Lance seemed to be as he walked next to Keith, and to a degree he was. He couldn’t really stop smiling and he felt like a complete idiot. Still, he couldn’t shake the feeling that none of this was real, that Lance was going to turn to him at some point on their walk to the hospital to visit Sophie and yell “gotcha”. He also realized and he needed to find some way to explain to Lance, who seemed to thrive under his self-assigned label, that Keith really wasn’t ready to be out to anyone except Shiro, and now Lance. Keith felt his stomach sink a little bit at that. If they really went on this date, if Lance was really interested in him, it’s not like it was something he could avoid. 

But then he looked at Lance who was babbling on about the  _ real  _ reason that he was the one who got in trouble for stealing a box of strawberries when he was eight, instead of Amanda, who had really done it and couldn’t help but feel like any potential strife that could come out of all of this would be worth it. Lance was so excited, so eager to share all these details about his life with Keith, who he trusted, who he actually  _ liked  _ for some reason that Keith still didn’t really get. Lance laughed melodically when recounting how he had planted a whole box of moldy strawberries in Amanda’s locker for revenge. Something about the way he threw his head back when he laughed care-freely made Keith determined not to let his fear stop him from going after something he wanted, for once. 

“Are you even listening to me?”

“Huh? Oh yeah, so what happened to the strawberries? Did they just stay there?”

“Well, the thing was that Amanda never used her locker, and at first I didn’t realize that, but by the end of the school yeah, my God, those strawberries were something else,” Lance laughed again, launching into the second part of his story. He continued his account of the principal putting on what must have been a makeshift hazmat suit that he just kept in his office somewhere for some reason, when he paused, 

“I’m not annoying you, am I?”

“What?”

“Sorry, it’s just sometimes I just sort of talk and I forget that it’s usually like not super interesting or whatever,”

“Who told you that,”

“No one, well, mostly Amanda,”

“Well Amanda sounds like a total bitch, from what I’ve heard,”

“Hey, that’s my sister you’re talking about,”

“Hey, yourself,” Keith said, playfully pushing against Lance in a way he hoped was like cute or something, “you’re not annoying. I like hearing you talk,”

“Really?”

“Of course,”

“You sure you’re not just saying that ‘cause you  _ liiike meeee,” _ , Keith swatted at Lance, who was now nuzzling into his shoulder, 

“Keep that up and I won’t for much longer,” Lance pretended to look horrified and, to Keith’s surprise, reached out to intertwine his fingers with Keith’s, 

“Nice try, Mullet-boy, but you’re not going to be rid of me that easily,”

“I- uh-“, Keith’s face betrayed the snarky comment of a few moments before by breaking into a wide grin, “yeah, I guess you’re right,” 

If Keith thought that the grin on his face was large, it was nothing compared to the grin that Lance wore when he first spotted Sophie in her bed, after the nurse led them to her room. She was smiling, and even in her sleep, was adorable as heck. Or at least Keith thought so. He glanced over at Lance who was gently stroking her hair. It must run the family,

“Are you okay?” Keith whispered, 

“Yeah, I’m good,” Lance said, “I’m just glad she’s okay,”, Lance reached for Keith’s hand again and Keith gave it willingly. Keith never considered himself a very tactile person, but evidently Lance was. Keith thought it made sense, given Lance’s big family, and, though Keith wasn’t normally really into the idea of touching other humans, but with Lance, well Keith wasn’t sure exactly what made it okay. Maybe he just liked the idea of being able to give Lance some comfort, however small.  

“Do you mind if I stay here until she wakes up?” Lance asked,

“Do you mind if I stay with you?” Keith said, cursing the blush that he knew was showing through his pale skin, 

“I’d like that,” Lance said and gestured for Keith to pull up another chair so they could sit together. Keith was reluctant to let go of Lance’s hand, but did as he was asked and pulled up another chair, “Sophie is going to be really happy to see you,”

“Really?”, Keith asked setting down the chair he was carrying as quietly as possible next to Lance’s

“Yeah, I didn’t want to say anything about it before, but after you left, all I heard for the next couple days were ‘how’s Keith doing?’ ‘is Keith coming over to play again?’ ‘Is Keith your best friend?’ ‘Does Keith miss me?” Lance said in his best five-year-old girl impression, which Keith noted wasn’t that different from the normal way he talked, “I’m not sure what you did to make her so crazy about you, but it worked,”

“Yeah, I guess it must be something in your guys’ genes,” Keith quipped, without thinking. He watched amusedly, as Lance contorted his face to try and stifle the smile that crossed it while a blush spread across his tan cheeks. At first Keith thought maybe he should apologize, but he figured it was about time that he gave Lance at least a taste of his own medicine. The feeling of satisfaction didn’t last for very long. Within a matter of seconds, Lance’s blank statement of, “well I guess you do drive me a little crazy,” left Keith stammering for words, again. Stupid Lance. Thankfully, it was then that Sophie decided to wake up and with one word

“Lance?”, Keith was saved from his agony. 

“I’m here, Sophie. It’s good to see you. Are you feeling better? Are you hungry? Do you know where you are? How much do you remember?” Lance started to coo over Sophie with an incessant stream of questions, 

“Yes. No. Yes. Some,” Sophie responded. Hey eyes lit up as they settled on Keith, “Keith! You came back to play!”, 

“Yeah, kiddo, I wanted to make sure you were okay,”

“I’m good,” Sophie said reaching for Keith’s free hand, not seeming to notice that the other was still intertwined with her brother’s. It seemed that Keith was spot on about the Lance’s tactile nature being a family thing, “Why is your face pink?” Sophie asked Keith with all the tact of a five-year-old., 

“Oh, umm, it happens when I get emotional and I’m happy to see you, that’s all,”, Keith said, rolling his eyes at a laughing Lance, 

“That’s cool. I wish my face did that. I like the color pink,”

“It’s a very pretty color,” Keith replied gently, “I think you’d look very pretty in it too,”. Sophie beamed at that. After Sophie had caught Keith up on what had happened in her life since she’d last seen him, Lance restarting his ‘momma bear’ questioning, or that was what Keith called it anyway. Once he was convinced that Sophie was, in fact, completely fine and that there was no immediate danger to her health or anything else about her, it was already time for a doctor to come in to kick them out so Sophie could get some more rest,

“Bye, sweetie,” Lance kissed her gently on the forehead as Keith waved goodbye from besides him,

“Look at you two,” Sophie giggled, “you look like mom and dad,” Lance tensed visibly at that, but Sophie didn’t seem to notice, “will you come back later?”

“Of course,” Keith promised, leading himself and a now vacant Lance out of Sophie’s room, “Are you okay?” Keith asked when they had gotten back into the waiting room, “you seemed a little shaken there, for a second,”

“Yeah,” Lance said distantly, then, coming back to himself abruptly asked, “so what did you want to do for our date?”

“Shhh,” Keith said, glancing around the waiting room and dropping Lance’s hand, 

“What’s wrong?” Lance asked, looking hurt, 

“It’s nothing. I’m sorry, I just,” Keith paused trying to find a way to phrase what he was about to say, “I’m not really ready to be like,” he lowered his voice to only Lance could hear,  _ “gay  _ in public, okay?”

“What does that even mean, Keith?”. Keith’s face fell. He was hoping Lance would swoop in to his rescue, fill in the words he was missing, tell Keith that he understood what he meant, but it seemed that wasn’t going to be the case,

“Can we talk about this outside?”  

————

“Basically,” Keith began with a sigh, “you and Shiro are the only people that know that I’m, you know what,”

“You really don’t like the word ‘gay’ do you?”

“Not really, no,”

“Why? Do you feel like you have something to be ashamed of or,” Lance hesitated, “are you just not sure about how you feel about bo-,”

“No! No, it’s not that, I mean, I do like you Lance, like in a ‘gay’ way or whatever I just, I dunno, I don’t want to be in everyone’s face about it,” 

“Huh?”

“Sorry, I just, ugh, I’m so bad with words,” Keith ran a hand through his hair, which indicated to Lance that Keith was getting frustrated with himself,

“It’s okay,” Lance interjected, “I’m sorry if I sounded like I was accusing you of something. I wasn’t. I just didn’t really get what you meant by that, that’s all, you don’t have to explain right now,”

“No, I want to it’s just, I- I don’t like boxes,”

“You don’t what?”

“Boxes? I don’t like when people think they know me when they don’t know me, like when you called me an ‘emo’ kid or whatever when we first met. I got mad because I- I dunno I just don’t like that shit, you know?”

“…and you think that being gay is a box, so you don’t like it?” said Lance, trying to connect the dots, 

“No, well not exactly, I just mean, I don’t like the label and all the stuff that comes with it, you know? Like Shiro has this one friend, Matt, who’s gay and when he came out to all his friends or whatever it became like a big part of who he was. Like whenever he did anything nice people were like, ‘yeah it’s cause he’s gay,’ or when he was emotional and needed to vent people would be like, ‘oh it’s because he’s gay so he’s expressive’ or some shit like that and I don’t want that I-“, Keith paused again and ran his fingers through his hair again, “I just want to be Keith, you know?”

“I think, sort of, yeah,” Lance said, “So, what does Keith want?”

“Huh?”

“Well you said you wanted to be  _ Keith _ , so what does  _ Keith _ want?”

“Keith wants to be happy,” Keith answered automatically, before flushing and fumbling with his hands again, “ankefthilanparotha” he mumbled, 

“What?”

“And Keith thinks Lance is a part of that okay? Are you happy now?”. Lance smiled, he was, in fact, quite happy now,

“So, just to clarify, you like boys —“

“—well I like you—“

“Noted,” Lance said smiling, “but you don’t like the label of being gay?”

“Yeah,” Keith said hesitating, 

“So if I was to do something like hold your hand or kiss you in a totally no homo kind of way that would be fine, or only if it was in private,”

“I’m just not sure, Lance,” Keith said, again with the fingers through the hair, except this time he looks sad rather than frustrated, “I want to be with you, I just, I don’t know. I’m sorry.”, Keith paused, “You already probably figured this out, but I’ve never really had anyone before. I mean, not that I  _ have _ you or anything, but I just—“

“No, it’s okay,” Lance said thoughtfully, “I get what you mean. It’s like, I’m fine being myself around my friends and in school, but I would never talk about that stuff with my family because the expectations are different. How comfortable I am just sort of depends on the circumstance,”

“Exactly!” Keith yelled, “That’s what I meant, exactly that,”

“Okay,” 

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, don’t worry about it, home dog,”

“Please don’t call me home dog,”

“I think we’re gonna be fine,”, Lance said placing a hand on Keith’s shoulder and smiling, 

“Good. Cool. Okay,” Keith said, smiling back, 

“And, Keith?” 

“Yeah?”

“I like you too,”

“Promise?”, 

“Yeah, I promise, dummy, what do you need a pinky swear to prove it?”, Lance rolled his eyes as Keith, a grown man, actually stuck out his pinky without a hint of a joke on his face. “Jesus, you’re actually worse than Sophie,” Lance said wrapping his pinky around Keith’s, “Feel better?”,

“Yeah,”, 

“Good,”, Lance looked at Keith’s sheepish smile and felt a smile creeping alone his own face. Man, this boy was going to end him, but still—  _ I stay out too late, go on too many dates _ — Lance was pulled out of his thoughts by his ringtone, he pulled out his phone and glanced at it for the first time this morning. It was his mom calling. Lance kicked himself mentally, he should have called the second he found out that Sophie was okay. 

“Sorry, would it be okay if I take this call? I gotta let my mom that everything’s okay with Sophie,”,

“Yeah, yeah of course,” Keith rushed, “do you want me to step away?”

“Nah, but could we start walking back to your place? I should probably head home after this and I left my stuff there,”

“Yeah, I’ll give you a ride too, if you’re not too scared,”, Keith teased

“I’m never scared, Mullet,” Lance shot back, before raising the phone to his ear to talk to his mom. 

Keith tried not to eavesdrop on Lance’s conversation too much, it wasn’t really any of his business anyway, but he did pick up on Lance trying to placate a frantic woman over the phone,

“I know, ma, I asked her. She said she only remembered some of it. Why would she lie, mom, she’s five. Moooommmm—,” as their conversation progressed, Keith realized that all of Lance’s answers were repititions of those he had gotten from Sophie when they had visited. Obviously, he had anticipated this call. Keith figured that made sense, considering how many times that family must have been through this before. 

Keith looked at Lance again who was literally trying to wave away his mother’s questions, gesturing wildly in the air at the voice over the phone who definitely could not see him. Keith watched the way that Lance’s eyebrows did acrobatics while he talked, how he reached behind to scratch the back of his neck while he was searching for a word, and how, after every couple seconds, he glanced over at Keith and smiled reassuringly. To Keith, that smile seemed to have words of its own.  _ Don’t worry, man, I’m still here.  _

__ Keith gulped. Though Lance had assured him several times to the contrary, he couldn’t shake the feeling that Lance was just saying and doing all this stuff because he didn’t want to hurt Keith’s feelings. It would make sense, Lance was a really nice guy, when he wasn’t being super annoying. But even when he was annoying, he was still really cute. And just— well it was all a lot for Keith. Ever since he’d been on his own, he had these walls up and the walls were sturdy as fuck. They had been there so long that gnarled vines had starting climbing up them, their thorns pricking any who got too close. And sure, he had fantasized about someone coming who came prepared with thick gloves and a jackhammer, someone who knew a thing or two about walls and was prepared to knock them down, but now that he had found one— or rather, maybe found one, he corrected mentally— he wasn’t sure if he was ready for that. It had been a really long time since the boy within the walls had felt the warmth of the sun, the grass beneath his feet, or the loving touch of another human being. Even Shiro, who was closer to him than anyone hadn’t been able to get through to those parts of Keith, the ones he didn’t dare to let out, the ones he needed to keep safe and locked away, but then Lance smiled again, and in the deepest corner of Keith’s mind, in the darkest room with a million locks, a light flashed, startling the boy huddled in the corner. And, wow, did it burn his eyes, but he wanted nothing more than to see it again and again. 

But, then again, if after all that light, Lance changed his mind, if he realized that he didn’t want to deal with Keith’s problems, that he could be with someone who didn’t have a life size cut out of mothman in their room and had nice, normal family dinners instead of Keith, could he handle being left in the dark again, alone?  Keith wasn’t sure, and that was probably the scariest thing of all. Just then, Keith felt a hand brush against his own again and jumped, looking at Lance’s wide eyes, 

‘Sorry’, Lance mouthed, the phone still to his ear, 

‘It’s okay,’ Keith mouthed back, hoping he was as good at mouthing as Lance was. He hesitated for a second, then, closed his eyes and reached for Lance’s hand. Keith peeked an eye open to glance at Lance, hoping that what he saw was good. When Keith’s hand brushed against Lance’s, he saw Lance’s eyes widen and look down at Keith’s hand, frozen in the process of reaching for his own. The corners of Lance’s mouth twitched upwards in a smile, as he brushed his hand back against Keith’s encouraging him. Keith took a deep breath and slowly began to interlace his fingers with Lance’s. It felt different than it had on their walk to the hospital. Then, everything was still so surreal to Keith, this time he was aware of every detail. Lance’s fingers were long and kind of bony, he hadn’t noticed that before. While Keith’s palms almost always ran warm and sometimes clammy— Keith mentally begged his hands not to start getting clammy right now— Lance’s hands were cold, really cold, which only made Keith was to hold them more. His hands were also, like, really smooth, for some reason. Keith’s hands probably felt gross in comparison. Keith made a mental note to WikiHow ‘how to get softer hands’ when he had the time. Their hands fit together pretty well too, or at least Keith thought they did. Maybe all hands worked like that, Keith wasn’t sure. It had been at least over a decade since he’d actually held hands with someone, but Lance didn’t need to know that. Lance smiled at Keith again mid-sentence in his phone call and gave Keith’s hand a small squeeze.  _ This is nice, _ the gesture seemed to say.  _ I like this too _ , Keith squeezed back, smiling. 

There was no way anyone could touch the stars without pushing through the void surrounding them. And who knew, maybe the reason they shined so bright was because of, not in spite of, what surrounded them? Looking at Lance, Keith decided that he was ready to surrender himself in the starlight and let it take what it may, with the knowledge that if he was able to grasp that lonely star, even for a moment, he’d bathe in its warmth for an eternity. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading!


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